Well, TLOU II is doing a good job at making me feel bad about my actions earlier in the game
Where I am at now, I do get why some people are upset at the strucure/direction of this game. It is kind of a risky move from the developer but for me it is paying off. And I think this game uses the baggage of the original very well.
It feels weird being that guy - the negative guy - because I rarely find myself feeling this way about games, but I must admit that the gameplay of TLOU2 is starting to wear me down a bit. I can't quite put my finger on why, but perhaps the game simply being longer has made the gameplay feel more repetitive or something. I dunno... I'm just starting to feel as though I'm playing to see what happens versus playing because I'm genuinely enjoying myself.
I think the pacing of this one is a bit less combat and more exploring/looting/story, at least initially. The battles themselves in the first half are just a bit more calm overall than the original. For example, in the first quarter of the original you already had frequent floors with several insta-kill clickers and a good amount of runners, in this game that feels more rare initially, with entire floors just having a clicker and two runners, for example. That makes the combat initially feel a bit more trivial, as such a floor is cleared within a minute. I think I should've gone with hard (but then again, I always play the original on hard and no listening mode). For me the complaint thus far is relatively minor though, I am loving this game. And I just had a long stretch full of intense fights, I think the second half is better in that regard.
Still, I think the gameplay itself is really great, it is one of those games you can play "beatifully", as it has a great balance between responsiveness and animation quality. Diving and dodging through the crowds while making headshots feels amazing. And the guns and melee feel great. I preffered stealth in the original, here I prefer the action approach.