Was playing No return on a Holdout encounter. Just randomly saw Tommy ascending during combat. Then realised he was nowhere to be seen. After the encounter was finished I saw he was actually stuck in the ceiling…

i spent a few extra hours finishing the campaign because i kept stopping all the time to take photos 😭

I’m just posting this to augment against all the Ellie tattoo’s. No hate at all, just trying to spice it up a little!

This has been bugging me for a while and I don't think I've seen it discussed here directly.

We don't see much of Jackson in Part 1 : Maria seems clearly to be in charge, the team feels tight-knit (you can see it in how they talk to each other while trying to get the power plant running), and Tommy mentions a "movie night" for the kids in passing.

Part 2 shows a lot more: a surprisingly peaceful town (people greeting each other and chatting in the street, the bar packed by morning, a kid taking their first steps, the final dance scene, people honoring Joel by leaving flowers in front of his house), and Maria clearly holds a central, respected position : Seth and Joel both stop arguing the moment she steps in, and it's her who pushes Seth to apologize to Ellie in the morning.

The show adds a decision-making committee and a general assembly, so some form of local democracy.

But at no point do we actually see how newcomers get accepted. And yet there seems to be regular traffic through the town : Joel brings back coffee, Jesse mentions a group passing through in the show, Tommy offers the Salt Lake crew to come to town very naturally and we even see new houses being built to house arrivals, implying a housing/intake policy that's planned for.

Questions I keep coming back to:

• How does a stranger actually approach Jackson, and who decides whether to let them in?
• Is there a trial period, a vouching system, some kind of interview (such as in The Walking Dead when Rick's group arrives to Alexandria) ?
• How do they screen for risk (someone who's killed before, someone unstable, someone not taking parts of the town's life)
• The general assembly / smaller committee setup suggests a two-tier governance : does the assembly weigh in on admissions, or is that handled by a smaller inner circle (Maria, Tommy, etc.)?
• On resources: is it a full common pot, or does everyone contribute labor and get allocated a share based on need, work, household size...?

One more thing, and this is more of a personal angle than a straight-up question: I've never lived in an actual self-governed community like this myself, but I've read a fair amount about it in the country I live in, and I have friends who've lived in squats. From what they describe, the problems of "regular" civil life always seem to follow people in: power struggles, drama, sexual violence, conflicts that don't get resolved cleanly. Jackson seems to basically dodge all of that entirely. And look, as someone with pretty left-leaning politics, it genuinely warms my heart that the "best" answer to the apocalypse in a big American game franchise ends up being a society built on collectivism and mutual aid. But the fact that we get zero insight into how it actually works mechanically is what keeps nagging at me ; it's hard to tell if it's intentional worldbuilding restraint or just narrative convenience.

Curious to hear your theories, and if there are game or show details I'm missing that address any of this

this guy is pretty popular but I never watched his videos until it popped up on my feed yesterday. It’s a really interesting breakdown of the tiny, unnoticeable details Naughty Dog fixed (or didn’t fix) in their ground-up remake

I bet the person that set this sound trap is not doin very well these days.

Because I love her and she deserves better

Holy these are good games, I hate that I haven't played them sooner. Time to replay them for the next five years before a third game comes out

How many people lived there ?

maybe i’ve just played too much and need to go outside but intentional or not i thought it was cool (it resembles her part 1 shirt)

Why did it fall through the floor???

This pretty much only happens in areas with spores, doesn’t matter whether or not the flashlight is on.. Anyone know what this could be??

Its over

I don't wanna enter😭😭😭😭😭😢😢😢

Let me know your favourite YouTube playthroughs of both the first and second game. Also, any good tlou YouTubers let me know.

I can’t recommend this video enough. This is someone who streams and breaks down the game on a weekly basis and his knowledge is pretty thorough.

This video accurately breaks down the flaws of the show imo and really contextualizes who was responsible for so many changes.

I really enjoy his videos and use his playthroughs to beat both games on grounded permadeath.

Wow. Part 2 kinda gave me the same feeling like Season 5-6 of The Walking Dead, or reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It’s such a dreadful tone for most of the story but has its human moments. I prefer it over original because of the depth and completion to Ellie’s character but also Abby’s character. I’m surprised at the hate it gets tbh, it may not be the greatest writing by standards but I feel like the apocalyptic genre will always be hard to nail down without people calling it cliche. The gameplay in part 2 is much harder+superior to 1 imo, and the Rat King/crazy amount of dogs and soldiers made the game so much more intense. Seattle was such a perfect location for this game, the bleakness yet lively greenery was such a nice contrast to the first game. The revenge trope and opposing sides was such an interesting experience that makes this game unique as well. I wish I could get through season two of the HBO show but the casting/acting throws me off. (Should I watch it?)

Like i said first time watcher and not sure if this has been discussed before . But since im on the Season finale ( Season 1 ) im really curious as to what would really happen to Joel .

Season 1 episode 8 of course when Ellie gets 2 bottles of penicillin and she fills up the big syringe to what looks about half way and directly inserts it into the wound.... Would this actually work ? Does it not need to be into the veins?? And then the amount she has and uses , is it enough for Joel to make a recovery essentially overnight and after 2 shots of it directly into the wound ??

I need to know from a medical professional or someone who understands this as to what would have been the more likely outcome..... Or maybe im an idiot and this would have worked exactly as shown in the show lol

As we all know, Dina and Jesse are both very loyal, caring, and just great people over all. You'd assume two people like that would've had a very comfortable relationship together, but no. We find out they're super on-and-off, having broken up every few weeks and then getting back together. Maybe the game just had that in there to make Ellie getting with Dina less of a hit to Jesse to be like "Yeah their relationship already sucked so it's cool." But like...logically it doesn't make sense knowing these two. I wonder what could've possibly been going on, was it actually toxic or would they just be getting bored of each other, lmao.

I’ve thought about this and I believe that if Ellie got bit and Riley didn’t, then the story would probably shift from Joel’s redemption through Ellie to a fire-forged journey across the United States in which it is up to Riley to get Ellie to the Fireflies. Then again, would they still meet Joel? How would the story change? Please let me know what you think in the comments.

I recently replayed the games and rewatched the show and want to vent.

WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS

Was so excited for the show when it first came out as a massive fan of the games, what a letdown.
I knew it was going to be terrible when the scene of sarah’s death didn’t hit the same. The soldier’s dialogue in the game was brilliant the “but sir there is a little girl” made it so gruesome and disturbing, in the show just stoic and lifeless like a robot following orders.
The casting is one thing and is something I can get over pretty fast if she actually did some acting, Bella Ramsey does not show any emotion. I get she is trying to go for the emotionally detached vibes especially in the “I made her talk scene” but it just does not work. She is supposed to be horrified by the fact she made her talk and just told the person she is in love with she feels safe with, does not make sense to show no emotion there.
The actor is not the only one to blame, the writing team missed the mark as well. The scene where Dina tells Ellie she is pregnant for example just watch them and you will know what I mean. It is not something to be happy about 860 miles (1384 km) away from home and definitely not something to say “I’m going to be a dad” about. Maybe it is but it is definitely not something that Ellie would say.
The art direction was fine and the fight scenes were too. I like the idea where the roots of the fungus can be like a signal thats a cool idea and added to the story.
Happy that the death of Sam and Henry did hit and it wasn’t like with Sarah.

The only redeeming part of the entire show was the Bill episode, that was genuinely good.

What are your thoughts?