An
Exactly. Is just artificial and disingenuously.
Exactly. Convenient.
Yep. You can see Neil moving the strings all along.
And for the record, I also didn't care if joel died. But I vividly remember thinking:
"Ok neil, you didn't, let's see how this develops"
In other other words.. It didn't feel earned, it was more like a shocking event, very artificially crafted.
"you mad bro?" I hear Neil whispering into my ear. lol
hm, i don't think the problem is entirely on how he manipulates the story. This kind of heavy handed approach isn't really uncommon and the intention of the mid point is a very clear "you are not the hero" statement which by itself isn't bad, a moral obstacle of sorts. I think its just that the heavy handed approach he takes ends up revealing how little he understands the themes he's talking about, as well as a lack of skill.
Going again on the mid-point, trying to tell the player "you are not the hero" so far in the game ends up
feeling very artificial and disingenuous because given the setting, what happened so far, and the previous game, thats something that should've been
obvious. It shows a lack of maturity on Neil's part regarding how he understood the themes, the game, as well as his perception on the players.
Without mincing words, its feels like he either sees us as ignorant fools who are unable understand and quickly come to terms with such a basic moral obstacle like this, or he has his head so far up his own ass that he thinks said moral obstacle is something people don't normally think about in such circustances.
Regarding Abby's crew the main problem here is that they act like extremists. Violent people doing horrible things without thinking twice and without an ounce of regret even when it bites them back.
Now, trying to make us sympathetic to such people isn't a bad idea, but achieving that kind of sympathy for them
is hard and takes
skill. Neil lack of skill shows here when he tries to do that with the most ridiculous plot devices that even fanfic writers don't do these days, like the zebras and dogs and pregnant women, etc.
So the problem is less the plot devices and more the fact he used such cheap tricks in a situation that'd normally require much more thoughtful and careful writing. Worse, this might even indicate that he himself didn't realize the characters he was writing were terrible people, again showing immaturity on his part towards the themes.
TL;DR. The problem is less the storytelling itself and more how the storytelling approach highlights the thematic immaturity and lack of skill of the author.