u/Mattras7

I’ve just finished TLOU2 remastered through PS+ for the first time and watched the documentary of the making of the game. I did enjoy the game overall, not as much as the first part but still a game that’s worth your time.

I also enjoyed the main theme of cycle of violence within the story. Ellie was unnecessarily mean to Joel which I didn’t like, but I think the violent nature of Joel’s death was necessary to really sell the story and make the player feel that hatred and puts you in a ‘eye for an eye’ mindset. I think a lot of people got blinded by the leaks when it first came out, but the plot is pretty powerful. Abby’s story could have been a bit more thought out but it’s still decent IMO.

My main criticism is that they should have obviously let the player choose in the end if they want to kill Abby or not. This would really drive home the message, having seen the full story: do you want to keep the cycle going or let them leave? I’m a big fan of telltale games and there you usually see a heightened level of emotional involvement when you as a player decide what happens. To leave that choice until the very end would have had a big impact I think. This would also open up a dark alternative ending where Ellie kills Abby and I would have loved to see that.

Sidenote: one of the most impressive games ever from a technical standpoint. I did find the gameplay repetitive at times, besides the weapon upgrades there’s no real innovation throughout the game. You likely find a way you enjoy playing and stick to it, I had to remind myself about the smoke bombs, mines & explosive arrows at times as I never used them.

I (25M) met this woman (27F) on Bumble, a few weeks of chatting turned into almost 3 months of dating eachother. She always said she’s a slow dater so I tried to adapt to her pace the best I could and never pressure her to do anything she didn’t want to. We both knew we were exclusive, but anytime I brought up deleting the dating apps and maybe becoming official she would say it was too soon. She struggled with opening up (avoidant attachment style) while I’m the complete opposite (anxious attachment style). In the later stages, sexual stuff turned out to be an issue. She suffered from endo & I’m struggling with ED related to anxiety. It wasn’t perfect, but we both agreed that sex wasn’t the number one priority for us and tried to work on it.

My birthday was coming up with a family dinner, I told her she was welcome if she wanted to come but she shouldn’t feel obliged. She turned that down. We didn’t see eachother for about 2 weeks because I was on a holiday trip with friends but we texted everyday. The final night of the trip & two days before my bday she sent me a vague HR text ending things, saying that ‘we’re living and talking next to eachother, it feels superficial and it probably wouldn’t work long term’. We had planned a date after my bday, I asked if we could still see eachother to talk about it and she refused saying she’d like to stay friends. After that I told her that she clearly made her decision so I’m not going to waste anymore time on it and went no contact for a week. She responded saying ‘it wasn’t a decision but a feeling that she can’t help’ and then she texted me happy bday which I ignored. Then I sent one final text to close things off positively and she also responded positively, before returning to no contact again.

Honestly dating is so exhausting and anxiety-inducing. I live with the fear that the girl will dump me everyday, especially when they take a long time to respond I become very anxious. I never doubletext to keep my self respect and try to not overwhelm them, but I still feel the anxiety. This is the longest I’ve ever dated anyone and even she is able to just dump me through a text like it meant nothing to her. I constantly feel like I need to put in more effort than them to keep them interested. Everytime I’m dating someone, when I become comfortable with them I believe ‘this one is going to be different and accept me for who i am, this will be the one with whom i can build a long term relationship’. And every single time on a random day through a HR text they decide that they no longer like me and would not like to continue things. Everytime I have to return to repeat the same cycle over and over. I’ve dated about 12 people since I decided i want something serious about 1.5 years ago, 4 of them i was genuinely interested in and went on multiple dates with. 4/4 times this cycle happened. Maybe I’m too nice and put in too much effort and that scares them off. Maybe as a man I should not open up about my anxiety and keep distance. But if loving too much or showing who I am scares her off, then it probably would have never worked out anyway. Everytime it makes me feel like i’ll never be enough & i’m unlovable, I’m giving up on the whole dating thing for a while.