@Mbun Thanks again for the tip, I played for about an hour last night on Hard and it's like a different game, I actually have to think about what I'm doing now, makes it a lot more interesting!

@capnbobamous I'll do the same and add some buffer for spoilers.

I've also seen a lot of people criticize the game because they felt what you describe: "They are just as angry as Ellie, so when they get to Abby's section they are completely unwilling to see her side, viewing the whole thing as manipulative and inorganic."
To me it's sadly very telling of the type of person they are, if that's how they go through real life too. Explains a lot about certain groups of people who deny facts and stick to their preferred version of "reality" despite all evidence to the contrary, as exemplified by recent political events, if you catch my drift ;)
Also them saying it's manipulative is a ridiculous argument in my opinion, because that's literally what every story ever told does. It's the entire point of storytelling, to frame a series of events from a specific angle to make the viewer/reader/player/listener feel a certain way. So again, it sounds like these people are just refusing to have their minds changed by the revelation of new facts. About a virtual character! Scary, but not surprising.
Back to your suggestion, I understand what you mean but it feels to me that switching to Abbie right after Joel's murder would make the above people hard-quit the game even faster haha. I do agree that I probably reacted the exact way ND expected me to, that's why it worked so well for me.
It would be interesting to make a switched cut of the game, show that to people who haven't experienced it before, and see their reaction.

@capnbobamous I've seen this suggestion a few times but I don't agree.

For me, the entire point of playing as Ellie first is to make you empathize with her. Especially if you've played the first game and are attached to Joel, the experience of watching your beloved "father" being brutally executed in front of you, especially in what seems to be an arbitrary act, is so revolting and infuriating that you the player will be in the same state of mind as Ellie the protagonist.
Therefore as you play through the first half of the game, you approve her actions, you want revenge as much as she does, you hate those assholes. Of course, you've seen snippets of Abbie before the murder so you know deep down she must have her reasons, and you suspect it may be related to Joel's actions in the first game, but still, those assholes!
As Ellie continues her rampage you slowly start to question her actions, detach yourself from her, maybe this is going too far, aren't we killing way too many innocents at this point?
Then they flip the script and show you what you were fearing all along: Abbie and her buds were actually perfectly fine people, Abbie's dad was senselessly murdered too, the exact reason why you went on a killing spree, so how dare you judge her? And the more it goes, the more you get attached to these characters, and relive how you killed them all, and you feel shittier and shittier.
Until, in my case, at the end you're 100% rooting for Abbie, or at the very least want them both to stop and go their own way.
All this would not have worked nearly as well if you played as Abbie first. All these mixed emotions and inner conflicts would be lost.

Finished it last night, clocked in at 41 hours, did pretty much everything. It's really, really good.

The world and characters grew on me throughout, and my gripes about some of the moral choices feeling unfair slowly disappeared as I learned to accept them, and also saw positive consequences finally happen too. When I finally dive into The Witcher 3, I will be on the lookout for these people, and I'll probably be disappointed if they aren't in it.

The final battle is ridiculously difficult though, to the point where it feels like only one specific strategy can work, the one shared online by everyone, which I had to resort to after failing so many times. Felt dirty and unsatisfying, but it doesn't take anything away from the overall experience.

I feel like if you enjoy the world of the Witcher and are not totally allergic to card games, this is a must-play. It has excellent writing and voice-acting too, a very polished UI, gorgeous 2D art... Truly a gem, kudos to the team!

@dipset That's exactly the model I have, same size too, and I confirm everything you say, it's a really amazing screen. I haven't experienced true 4K since I only have the base PS4, so I can't wait for the PS5 to finally get the most out of it.

@mbun Good to know thanks, maybe I'll boost it to Hard and see what happens!

Has anyone picked it up?

I started playing it yesterday, enjoying it a lot! It's my first musou but it feels like exactly what I need right now: a "mindless" action game that's just pure fun and power fantasy, in a world I love.

Playing this co-op with my girlfriend, the framerate is noticeably atrocious at times, but somehow it doesn't impact the gameplay, since the biggest drops are caused by special attacks where input isn't required anymore, and it just feels like a slow-mo effect.

Split-screen does make the action harder to read at times though.

It's very easy right now (I may be wrong, but I don't think the game is balanced differently in co-op, so obviously doing twice the damage helps), but I'm sure there will be enough endgame challenges to keep me busy for a while.

The Black Friday sales are here on the EU PSN, and Legion is 35% off! It's crazy to see such a price drop only 3 weeks after launch, I don't understand why Ubisoft discount their games so much so quickly. A 10-15% discount would have been more reasonable.

People will just learn to never buy their games at launch, it's a weird strategy.

The Artful Escape, 12 Minutes, and Last Stop from Annapurna all officially delayed to 2021.

Looks like it's also 50% off at the moment, at least on the EU store, could be worth it!