Anyone played "The Last of Us" for the PS3? (END SPOILERS)

[SterlingSilver]

--WARNING: Don't read if you haven't finished the game!!--

Just finished the game today, and MAN! That ending was intense.

It wasn't what I was expecting at all.

In reality, I wanted Ellie to live, a vaccine to be engineered, and for mankind to be saved. But this did not happen. In fact, it wasn't even possible for me to choose what happened. Joel chose for me. I really appreciated this game mechanic, since it was true to his personality, and the major theme of the game--"You can either survive, or abide by morals and die."

It's impossible for me to truly understand, since I am not living in a post-apocalyptic world of Clickers and hunters. Also, because I am generally a sensitive person (this was my first survival horror game), I tried to limit my relationship with the game to business casual. Otherwise I probably would have been agonizing over all my decisions to the point of madness LOL.

For Joel, the decision was clear: save Ellie. Not only for her, but for him. And there are many arguments to say the vaccine wouldn't even work, or would just be a tool for the Fireflies/government to use against others. Also, they never even asked Ellie about it--didn't get her permission to be killed for this milestone. Even if she had said yes, Joel would have saved her anyway. But at least she would have been asked.

I guess Joel's lie bothered me a lot. He did it to save Ellie all the guilt and hatred she would have against him, even if she didn't believe him in the first place. But now they both have to live in falsehood. They probably will continue to be happy and live out their lives in peace, but just the tension they had with one another at the end unsettled me.

Ultimately, the game wasn't about a heroic quest. Naughty Dog is clear about that. It's a story about a broken man and an abandoned girl, and how they become close in the worst circumstances during a year long journey.

All in all, it's a very human story. Selfishness, love, a lack of belief of the common good when it comes to family--it's all human. So the ending was just about as human as it gets. It's also meant to leave the player thinking about difficult questions. I probably won't forget about it for a while (which is both touching, and kind of scary xD. I'll be worrying about what I would have done in that situation for days and days.. I probably would have done what Joel did, depending on who in my life was playing Ellie, but living with the guilt would be so hard.. I don't like thinking about it xDD)

I guess I just wanted to know if anyone else had something they wanted to say about it, if they played and finished it~ :3

[murphy dee]

I was just coming to the board to make a post about this game because I also just finished it.

Joel's lie also bothered me. It made me really sad. Ellie deserved to have a choice. The Fireflies weren't going to give her one. I would've thought Joel, with as much as he loved her, would've allowed her to make an informed decision. And I think he probably would have if the Fireflies hadn't tried to do exactly what the military did to him 20 years back. They took the person he loved away from him.

I almost wonder if at that point Joel considered if the cure was even worth it - if mankind was even deserving of it. I mean, he pretty much screwed the human race out of a cure. He killed the leader of the Fireflies. He killed the surgeon(s). That pathway to a cure is cut off.

I really don't know what ending I would've wanted. I'm just happy that Ellie and Joel survived, but then there's this cloud hanging over my happiness. Everything is a lie now. And Joel has to keep her ignorant or risk losing her. So essentially Ellie is going to be kept in the dark for the rest of her life, never knowing that she actually did hold the key to saving the human race.

Ugh...i'm just so upset and sad about this game that it's exhausting me.

I loved it, though. Honestly. Every minute of it.

(Except...can we talk about David?? The whole final showdown with him in the resort restaurant. My heart has never beat so fast in my fucking life and I'm being completely serious here. Even with all the infected and hunters, that whole part was the most terrifying.)

[SterlingSilver]

Murphy, I agree with you all the way. I'm happy, but there's still this sadness hanging over me. There is no alternate ending, no choice we could have made that was different, so there was no way to help what happened. But I still feel kind of responsible.

AND OMGH I KNOW.. I think it was extra scary since we knew he was a cannibal, and also intent on possibly doing something to Ellie. When they said Ellie was his latest "pet," I was like EWWWWWWWWWWW.... And then Joel just like, went completely insane Papa Bear and ended up getting to her in time..

I like that Ellie killed David herself, since they show her to not only be a vulnerable child (like when Joel holds her and comforts her--I was so happy he did that <3.. Called her baby girl and everything~!), but Ellie is also a fighter. She takes care of herself, and I love female protagonists who can do that. I didn't want her to be a useless girl who needed Joel to handle her constantly. She did just fine alone most of the time.

Also, the part where Joel gets impaled?! I don't know, I'm a sucker for when the big, strong guy gets injured. So playing as Joel when he was stumbling around from bloodloss was both heart-wrenching and kind of awesome. It was just cool to see Ellie take charge. That's when the game truly surprised me. I wasn't expecting Joel to get severely hurt, and then all of a sudden we're Ellie shooting rabbits.

I just love the dynamics of their relationship. I'm returning this game, since I beat it in time to get a full refund that I'm going to put towards "Rain" (also PS3), but I'll be kind of sad to see it go. Though I know I won't play it again--too emotionally taxing for a second time, I think. I do wonder what the DLC will be like though.

[murphy dee]

OH MY GOD yes when Joel got hurt I just went cold all over. I had a nervous tummy pretty much the whole time I was playing, but that moment especially I got the worst sinking feeling ever. I adored how Ellie took charge, but it was still pretty obvious how afraid she was. I loved her "Can you walk?" "Yeah..." "Then fucking walk!"

Oh man...and the giraffes. I can't get over the giraffes. Literally the most beautiful moment in a game that I can think of. When she gets to pet one and then she wants to run up and see the rest, and she's calling for you to hurry up and follow her - she's just so excited and happy, and then when you get to her and it reveals the whole herd of them and you get to just watch them and...ugh, I sobbed. So wonderful.

Anyway, I have to imagine the DLC will probably end up being more skins for the characters or additional weapons or something, or stuff for the multiplayer. And I'm with ya, I'm trading in the game myself too - I have a PS4 reserve that I have to pay off, after all . If I ever feel like playing it again it'll be a looooong time from now and then I can just pick it up used at a much cheaper price.

Rain looks really interesting! Haha, at first I thought you meant Heavy Rain and I was like "oh no, what a terrible game to play after The Last of Us!" because it's also dark and dreary and sad.

[black_mage]

I just finished this game, and loved it. Joel was really a damaged guy, which made him interesting to me. Some scenes showed he had pretty much stepped into the dark side so to speak (like the interrogation), but of course in the game's post-apocalyptic world the lines of morality start to blur quite a lot. Also, a lot of the characters and their decisions were in the gray area instead of black and white which was pretty great. What is right and what is wrong depends a lot on where you're looking at it, and this game showed things mostly from Joel's perspective. I noticed that I started feeling more and more protective over Ellie as the game went on, just like Joel. Pretty much what happened with Clementine in The Walking Dead. In the end I was happy that Ellie survived but as you said it was pretty sad as well. They can't just live happily ever after like in fairy tales... Damn what a great game, it totally surprised me.

Rain looks really interesting! Haha, at first I thought you meant Heavy Rain and I was like "oh no, what a terrible game to play after The Last of Us!" because it's also dark and dreary and sad.

I agree, especially since I was so bad at that game that I failed almost everything in the end and I probably got the worst possible ending.

[murphy dee]

I agree, especially since I was so bad at that game that I failed almost everything in the end and I probably got the worst possible ending.

Oh man, I loved that game. XD I played on easy though since I'm awful at remembering what buttons are where (which you'd think I'd know after playing video games for as long as I have...). Right now I'm working towards getting all the endings. I'm especially interested to see the ending in which the Origami Killer actually gets away with everything.

(Whoops, sorry to derail, just had to get excited there.)