Ok so it goes without saying that the real reason to play Last of Us is for the story. In my opinion its definitely the best naughty dog has come up with so far, just because the world feels full of consequence and fraught with danger, whereas the uncharted games always felt like you were going to get through and come out smelling like roses no matter how bad things got.

Anyway, what I really want to discuss is what you all think of the ending. At time of playing I was right with Joel. I wanted to save Ellie. She was way to special to just sacrifice like that, after all we'd been through! But then on the car ride out I stepped back and thought about the big picture, what it meant for humanity and if it was the right choice.

From a gameplay point of view I wonder if NG missed a trick here to give the player the choice of saving Ellie or saving the world. What would you have done and what decision do you think Joel should have made?

FINALLY!!!! A spoiler thread!

Just need to get my own take on the ending.
First off, you are not playing "yourself" in this game. You are controlling a pre-made character with flaws and values that might conflict with your own.

We learn early on that Joel is a "damaged" character. He has made bad choices his whole life, and his daughter was obviously his one bright (Good) part. When she dies, he gives up. Stops caring about anything and everything. Yet he still hungers for redemption in some for (Otherwise he would have just taken the short road of a building.

When he first meets Ellie, he is angry at having more responsibility trust upon him. He does not want to care again.
As the story develops he realizes that she might be the chance he needs to finally redeem himself. Since she can can take care of herself, there is a better chance she might survive.
At this stage he he becomes unstable... er. He WILL make her happy. He believes that if she is happy, he can be redeemed from his past.
This leads us to him abandoning humanity, and even lying to Ellie herself, to ensure she is happy and ignorant.

There is a saying: "That which redeems, consumes."
I have never seen it done better than this game. Joel is willing to do ANYTHING and kill ANYONE to redeem himself. I would not find it strange if a DLC makes him the bad guy, locking Ellie up in a house "for her own safety"

Brilliant brilliant game

I think the journey Naughty dog sends you out on makes you feel compelled to choose Ellie over humanity. If you look at what happened to "us" in such a relatively short time frame, what only 20 years, to decline into groups of bandits or survivors that were not about the greater good at all but rather their own hides.

If I had the "mass effect styled" A. Ellie or B. Save the world choice by the end of the game I think I would've still chosen Ellie. Not because of the Father, daughter need that Joel showed but rather because you get the sense that sometimes one person can be worth the lives of many others and in this case, were the "others" worth saving based on Joel and Ellie's experience?

What I did really like about the ending was when Joel lied to her about the fireflies and what happened, I think she knew he was lying but decided that she was ok with the decision he made.

Besides, I felt Ellie's immunity was most likely a progressive evolution humanity would have built up after time. Doubt she would've been the only one. If anything, we will see a sequel of a spin off game about that exactly.

Teb, you are indeed correct. Joel is by no stretch of the imagination the usual hollywood wholesome hero. He most certainly is looking for redemption and while he protects Ellie at all costs on numerous occasions, he has still not received closure for the death of his daughter, and while Ellie does help him come to terms with it somewhat, as the constantly conflicted and flawed hero that he is, surely there would be part of him that would want the world back to the way it was when he still had his daughter?

Is either decision perfect? Certainly not! And either way Joel will have to live with everything he has done. However I dont think he'll end up as you suggest. I'd like to think Ellie brings out the little that is left in his humanity and over time in a stable life she'll bring him to be a better man. I just feel sorry for Ellie's future boyfriends, you wouldnt want to have Joel as the father figure to impress!

Tea said ...


What I did really like about the ending was when Joel lied to her about the fireflies and what happened, I think she knew he was lying but decided that she was ok with the decision he made.

If anything, we will see a sequel of a spin off game about that exactly.

I totally agree, she absolutely knew that Joel would lie to her about that, that he was doing so and that he was to protect her once again. I also think that she knows that he needs her even more than she's needed him...

As for the sequel. I sincerely hope they do not make one. While the game was absolutely insane and the best roller-coaster ride, I just think a sequel could never match up to it and would cheapen the experience.

Unfortunately the game opened up too well to ever be able to follow up after that.

The first 20 minutes of this game was truly great. After that everything just seemed scripted and predictable. I didn't really care for any characters through the game and the seasonal changes seemed out of place. What happened between those times? How did the characters grow? All of a sudden from one horse ride Joel's entire feelings changed, must of been one very long horse ride.

The ending either was was dumb, the player should of had the choice of what happens but they probably did it to be able to shove out a sequel at some point.

If there was actually story emphasis between the seasons it probably could of been much better, from the actual game I didn't really get much story or character depth from any of the characters, when it did happen it seemed spontaneous and out of place.

I need to play through this again but I'm still think it had a great story. Joel is not the player character so you don;t need choice. The biggest flaw was making you kill the surgeon at the end, that should have simply been a cut scene. Also the changing of seasons reinforces the length of their journey and the time they spend together. To expect the player to believe Joel would have bonded with Ellie in weeks would've been very "videogame-ish" and ruin the impact of the story.

I think the ending was perfect. During the game you witness plenty of tragedy, simple joyous moments and the extremes some people have gone to survive.

The reason I would choose Ellie and not the world is that all the most joyous and touching moments are between small family groups. The idea of governing structures has disappeared and where it persists (safe zone government, Fireflies, bandit groups and the cannibals), you find all the most negative aspects of society - authoritarianism, discrimination, violence, criminality, perversion of basic values. Saving humanity as a whole would have simply empowered these groups at the expense of other family groups that are rebuilding for themselves (such as Joel's brother's town).

I would have still saved Ellie!!
Its like the old saying goes, sacrifice one person to save a million! So you are thinking, no problem, easy choice right? BUT, what if that one person was YOUR loved one?? Not so easy now!
Ellie knew what Joel did at the end, I mean hell she did not wana die! I don’t think the Fireflies even told her what they where gana do? They could have at lest asked her “You wana die to save the world?” But they probably knew what the answer was gana be!
The only reason I did not like the ending was because it ended so abruptly! Other wise it was still good!
As for a sequel, well they did leave it open for one? & it would be interesting to see, but how do you top the first game!?

Definitely save Ellie!

I loved this game's story! Certain parts had almost a similar feel to "The Walking Dead" tv series. I felt the ending was great. It was one of those endings that made you think. I think letting the doctors operate on Ellie wouldn't necessarily help the world. There was always a chance that they could fail on creating a cure. Besides there's no guarantee that civilization as we knew it would return to normal seeing as a lot of people left in the world will do anything just to survive, including killing innocent people. And who is left that is trustworthy enough to assume control of a governing structure that will take everyone's best interest into account?

If there was one thing I would change, it would be to give the player the choice of killing the doctor or just pushing him aside/knocking him unconscious. When I 1st walked into the operating room, I aimed my gun at the doctor. But then I paused and thought "why kill him?". He didn't prove to be any threat to me. So I decided to just walk past him, but unfortunately Joel decided to take the doctor's knife and stab him in the neck. This was a bit unnecessary but it's only a minor complaint.

Incoming wall-o-text. Sorry

I agree with a lot that has been said here. You are playing Joel’s story and not a character of your own creation, so the choices made are mostly his and not yours. NG did a great job of investing the gamer in the characters. I wanted to save Ellie at any cost and, if the situation called for it, I wanted to hurt the people that hurt her. There was that one scene in the middle of the story where you getting into the city with their car and are ambushed. When that man grabbed Ellie I couldn’t wait to have Joel get at him. Now I don’t see this as “evil”, but just people protecting themselves and others in extreme situations.

A lot of people want to compare Joel and Ellies relationship as a father/daughter one, but it’s not completely that. Yes Ellie filled a space that was missing in Joel’s life, but it wasn’t a just as daughter or someone to care for. It was mostly hope. He wasn’t a completely terrible person before going on their journey, he was just lost in hopelessness which turned into toughness verging on anger and resentment (he isn’t fully there. His relationship with Marlene shows this). Ellie and not the cure is responsible for that new hope/meaning for him.

As for the ending I have to admit that I was a little conflicted. Killing the doctor was on the verge of unforgivable. But Joel didn’t want to be stuck in that hopeless again. I imagine that the internal conversation he has with himself was something like “What will I do if Ellie died. How will I go on”. Ellie was an important part of his life and he would not lose her and let her die. It is selfish, but a lot of what people do is selfish and Joel showed many times that he does put Ellies life before his and is prepared to die for her (the section where he is injured and goes looking for her).

Joel lying to Ellie at the end was also conflicting for me. But she did seem to know that he was lying and was ok with it. This was very important for closure at the end as if she didn’t accept his lie is would have been a slightly creepy kid-napping sort of situation.

As for the season change they couldn’t show you a full years worth of cut scenes and audiences today have moved past also needing a montage to fill in the blanks (that would have been super cheesy anyway). NG were probably confident even in their story telling that they knew people would fill-in the missing time spaces

I'm finding it so interesting peoples reactions to killing the doctor. I have to admit on bursting into that room, seeing what he was about to do and hearing him say I wont let you get near her, I didnt even hesitate, put a round straight through his head. I even killed the second guy next to him as I wasnt sure what the reaction would be from him. Once I saw the third woman huddled in the corner though I left her on the basis that she was no longer a threat. What is especially interesting is that it was without second thought and I didnt feel bad about it at all. That all comes from how bleak and harsh the world was and from past experiences, it was kill or be killed...

@Waylander: for me its just a small complaint. Seeing as this is Joel's story and not the player's personal story i guess it makes sense that Joel kills the doctor. It's like you said the world is harsh and bleak and that drove Joel to protect Ellie at all costs.

I didn't want to play this game, but reading this thread with spoilers and all has changed my mind

Haha you may have just spoiled all the surprise for yourself there Morschee

@Morschee
There is still some tuff that will suprize !bp

"Naughty Dog reveals The Last of Us alternate ending image"
Gamespot
"Gamers will learn more about The Last of Us' alternate endings during a PAX Prime panel next month"

Here's the alternate ending video that released. I think i would've been disappointed with this ending but I admit I would have burst out laughing!

I find it really strange that the discussion of playing your own character/ a character with their own decisions is actually being made?



In the end, Save Ellie. it was how I felt the entire last chapter. Even when I broke into the surgery room and the one doctor reached for the scalpel (i didnt know that was what it was) I just shot him straight. I left the other two because clearly they werent going to do anything.

As for the ending... interesting. I think Ellie was prepared for what was going to happen to her. It seems obvious teh entire time you are in teh chapter heading for the hospital. She even says that it cant have been for nothing.. the entire trip there. She is a changed person. If they didnt try find teh vaccine... she would have suffered through all of that for nothing.

Still, like the rest of the game, Joel takes away her decision (in that she wanted to help with the vaccine... whether she was going to die is irrelevant because she never learns that or did but Joel and the player dont know that she does know).

She becomes a substitute for her daughter... very good parallels in teh end about that. I think teh scene with the picture is the real push over mark for him.

Awesome game. loved teh story. But i find all this discussion from journalists etc about choice at the end to be very poorly apt. You didnt have choice at any other time of teh story progression.. what makes you think you will have it at the end?
I guess taht just shows what an impact the story does indeed have... and that counts for something I suppose.

richter said ...

Here's the alternate ending video that released. I think i would've been disappointed with this ending but I admit I would have burst out laughing!

Lol that was great! Last of Us: The Musical