19 replies to this topic

[umegames]

NO SPOILERS for those who haven't played, but i need to know is there anyone else out there that didn't like the ending?

 

apparently at work I'm the only one...

[meitantei_conan]

no you arent the only one. I myself didnt like the ending, it felt kind of rushed. 

[Mignaga]

I thought the ending was great. It rang true with the world that we were experiencing through Joel's, and Ellie's eyes, and it showed how much both of them had changed of the course of the game, as characters. While it doesn't have that satisfying happy ending, it really shouldn't have, simply because that's not what the game was like, and as such, the ending shouldn't be like that either.

 

My two cents anyways, take that as you will.

[BnB]

I thought it was good because it wasn't what I expected. The message the ending conveyed was well thought out.

[umegames]

I thought the ending was great. It rang true with the world that we were experiencing through Joel's, and Ellie's eyes, and it showed how much both of them had changed of the course of the game, as characters. While it doesn't have that satisfying happy ending, it really shouldn't have, simply because that's not what the game was like, and as such, the ending shouldn't be like that either.

 

My two cents anyways, take that as you will.

hmm. I didn't really want a happy ending, 

 

SPOILERS

 

i just wish Joel didn't lie to elle. He had no right to make that choice to save her, she wanted to be used for a cure, now whether she was willing to die for that is up in the air, but she didn't even get to make that choice. It does seem though, based on the end conversation, that she would have been willing. Just wasn't cool to me. from the start of the game I figured okay, someone is going to die...instead they don't, rather they doom the human race by not using her as a cure.

[dante👌]

hmm. I didn't really want a happy ending, 
 
SPOILERS
 
i just wish Joel didn't lie to elle. He had no right to make that choice to save her, she wanted to be used for a cure, now whether she was willing to die for that is up in the air, but she didn't even get to make that choice. It does seem though, based on the end conversation, that she would have been willing. Just wasn't cool to me. from the start of the game I figured okay, someone is going to die...instead they don't, rather they doom the human race by not using her as a cure.

Spoiler

okay first off, ellie thought they were just going to open her arm, take the infection, then make the vaxine. That's what jole thought as well. Then when marlene told him that she was gonna die for a possible chance of the vaxine not working then it would literally kill jole. He already lost his daughter and do you think he was gonna lose ellie after gettig attached to her? No he wasn't. Just picture yourself being jole. And it wasn a 100% guarantee of the vaxine working and you were told she was gonna be killed by it. Would you let someone who is like a daughter to you get killed for a 50% chance of it working? Well i sure hope not.

[Chrop]

Ya i wasn't so fond of the ending either, i thought it would have been better (high expectations).

POSSIBLE SPOILERS 

Spoiler

I think the game ended like that to open up for a Last of Us 2. The story doesn't feel finished, the fireflies could track them down and try to kidnap ellie or something like that

[3Dude]

hmm. I didn't really want a happy ending, 
 
SPOILERS
 
i just wish Joel didn't lie to elle. He had no right to make that choice to save her, she wanted to be used for a cure, now whether she was willing to die for that is up in the air, but she didn't even get to make that choice. It does seem though, based on the end conversation, that she would have been willing. Just wasn't cool to me. from the start of the game I figured okay, someone is going to die...instead they don't, rather they doom the human race by not using her as a cure.

Im pretty sure she saw through his transparant lie... And was ok with it.

The one thing I really, REALLY didnt like about the ending was

Spoiler

It forced you to kill the head surgeon. I went through a LOT of work sparing the fireflies, only to have that freedom taken away from me forcing me to kill the surgeon Joel could have easily detained and left unconcious instead.

[LinkKennedy]

I liked the ending, it's one of 2 endings that made me feel like something wasn't rignt. The other being Mass Effect 3 but I know I'm in the minority on that one.

[Julio93]

It sucked.

[Mignaga]

hmm. I didn't really want a happy ending, 

 

SPOILERS

 

i just wish Joel didn't lie to elle. He had no right to make that choice to save her, she wanted to be used for a cure, now whether she was willing to die for that is up in the air, but she didn't even get to make that choice. It does seem though, based on the end conversation, that she would have been willing. Just wasn't cool to me. from the start of the game I figured okay, someone is going to die...instead they don't, rather they doom the human race by not using her as a cure.

Spoiler

See, that's what made the ending so interesting! Remember the situation with Henry and Sam, and how the Henry killed himself the second Sam turned? That's what Ellie became to Joel, and what made that whole situation so interesting, and what makes Joel such a selfish character. He's willing to give up what could be humanities only salvation, for selfish reasons (he knows full and well that this is what Ellie would have wanted, thus why he lied in the first place), and that's something that's the mark of an interesting, complex character, regardless of whether or not you agreed with his choice. This was Joel's story, and despite the fact that you play as Joel through much of the game, he is an separate entity of you, and as such, you don't get to decide what he does, nor do you have to agree with it, but please don't call it a bad ending because he did something that you don't agree with.

 

Ya i wasn't so fond of the ending either, i thought it would have been better (high expectations).

POSSIBLE SPOILERS 

Spoiler

I think the game ended like that to open up for a Last of Us 2. The story doesn't feel finished, the fireflies could track them down and try to kidnap ellie or something like that

 

Spoiler

I don't think that they ended it like that to make room for a second game with these characters. I think that the ending was the way it was, because it's meant to make Ellie's acceptance of what Joel has to tell her more open ended, and leave for two possible interpretations of what she really knows.

Im pretty sure she saw through his transparant lie... And was ok with it.

The one thing I really, REALLY didnt like about the ending was

Spoiler

It forced you to kill the head surgeon. I went through a LOT of work sparing the fireflies, only to have that freedom taken away from me forcing me to kill the surgeon Joel could have easily detained and left unconcious instead.

 

Spoiler

See, I think that that was a brilliant move on the writers part, because it shows how rash Joel is acting in the moment. He's had no time up until this point to sit down and think about what he's doing... He's just acting on instinct, and as one of the things I stated earlier in this post, Joel is separate to who you are as a person. Just because you didn't want to kill the head surgeon, doesn't mean that Joel wouldn't want to, or had thought things out like you had... Otherwise, I do agree with you when you say that you think that Ellie saw through what Joel had to say... I feel like she knew how important she was to him, and she didn't want to see him turn out like Henry when she had moved on... It really speaks volumes about her character, and how she has grown and evolved over the course of the game.

[umegames]

Spoiler

okay first off, ellie thought they were just going to open her arm, take the infection, then make the vaxine. That's what jole thought as well. Then when marlene told him that she was gonna die for a possible chance of the vaxine not working then it would literally kill jole. He already lost his daughter and do you think he was gonna lose ellie after gettig attached to her? No he wasn't. Just picture yourself being jole. And it wasn a 100% guarantee of the vaxine working and you were told she was gonna be killed by it. Would you let someone who is like a daughter to you get killed for a 50% chance of it working? Well i sure hope not.

 

i 100% understand Joels feeling, however that doesn't make it right, elle is not his daughter and she deserves to make her own choice. NOW if Joel wanted to break her out of there, explain to her that yeah you're gonna have to die for them to use you BING! i like that better. 

 

I think the game was good and the story telling was on key, i just don't like the ending. Were it a movie (which you could argue it was) I'd still say the same thing. Joel was selfish in the end, from the killing the fireflies, the surgeon, marlene and lying to elle twice.

[dante👌]

i 100% understand Joels feeling, however that doesn't make it right, elle is not his daughter and she deserves to make her own choice. NOW if Joel wanted to break her out of there, explain to her that yeah you're gonna have to die for them to use you BING! i like that better. 

 

I think the game was good and the story telling was on key, i just don't like the ending. Were it a movie (which you could argue it was) I'd still say the same thing. Joel was selfish in the end, from the killing the fireflies, the surgeon, marlene and lying to elle twice.

Dude, ever hear of spoilers?

Spoiler

whether it was his daughter or not. Ellie saw him as a dad, Jole saw her asa daughter. She didn't even know she was gonna die from doing that. It was all marlene's idea for it. Ellie also COULDN'T make her own choice. They already had her on the operating table and getting ready to pretty much kill her.

[BnB]

Spoiler

I thought it was especially interesting how even though Marlene knew Ellie longer than Joel and even established a friendship with Ellie's mother, she was still willing to let Ellie sacrifice her life, whereas Joel didn't wouldn't let it happen.

[3Dude]

Spoiler

See, that's what made the ending so interesting! Remember the situation with Henry and Sam, and how the Henry killed himself the second Sam turned? That's what Ellie became to Joel, and what made that whole situation so interesting, and what makes Joel such a selfish character. He's willing to give up what could be humanities only salvation, for selfish reasons (he knows full and well that this is what Ellie would have wanted, thus why he lied in the first place), and that's something that's the mark of an interesting, complex character, regardless of whether or not you agreed with his choice. This was Joel's story, and despite the fact that you play as Joel through much of the game, he is an separate entity of you, and as such, you don't get to decide what he does, nor do you have to agree with it, but please don't call it a bad ending because he did something that you don't agree with.

 

The problem with this line of thought is that the logic behind it just doesnt pan out. Throughout the entirety of the game the player is given the freedom of making joels choices, from whether to start a firefight, stealth kill everyone, or just sneak past them. You can choose to let people who you feel arent bad go, or eliminate those who you think are, the choice is all yours.

To search for and collect comic books for Elly, whether or not to engage Elly in conversation when shes feeling down, or is confused, or interested in something from the past. Whenever the player is in control, ie, its not a cutscene, they are offered complete control. Except there.

Spoiler

It even lets you choose HOW Joel kills the surgeon, via gun, melee, or the surgeons own scalpel, it even gives you the choice of whether or not you want to kill the other 2 doctors. If it was instinct, or it was joels doing and seperate from the player, they should have done it via cutscene, instead of freezing the game until the player murdered a hapless doctor.

And thats not my only gripe with the game, while most of the storytelling is great, parts of it are extremely hamfisted, like the incident with the soldier at the beginning.

But just because there are parts of the game that could be done better, or have mistakes dont mean I think it has a bad ending, or that it wasnt a fantastic game.

And even if someone did think such, so what? Just because you really enjoyed the game doesnt mean you should rationalize excuses for any of its shortcomings people may or may not think it has, it doesnt need it, it can stand just fine on its own.

[IvyT]

I've seen so many people criticize the ending but to be honest what did you want instead?

 

Joel grew to care about Ellie, it wasn't about what was morally right... if you were in the same situation as him, caring for someone so much like Joel does for Ellie, would you have let them go for the sake of something you didn't know wasn't 100% guaranteed? The vaccine wasn't a sure thing.

 

Besides Ellie had a bad case of survivor's guilt. Here's a really good quote on Tumblr that explains that issue a little bit better.

[Mignaga]

The problem with this line of thought is that the logic behind it just doesnt pan out. Throughout the entirety of the game the player is given the freedom of making joels choices, from whether to start a firefight, stealth kill everyone, or just sneak past them. You can choose to let people who you feel arent bad go, or eliminate those who you think are, the choice is all yours.

To search for and collect comic books for Elly, whether or not to engage Elly in conversation when shes feeling down, or is confused, or interested in something from the past. Whenever the player is in control, ie, its not a cutscene, they are offered complete control. Except there.

Spoiler

It even lets you choose HOW Joel kills the surgeon, via gun, melee, or the surgeons own scalpel, it even gives you the choice of whether or not you want to kill the other 2 doctors. If it was instinct, or it was joels doing and seperate from the player, they should have done it via cutscene, instead of freezing the game until the player murdered a hapless doctor.

And thats not my only gripe with the game, while most of the storytelling is great, parts of it are extremely hamfisted, like the incident with the soldier at the beginning.

But just because there are parts of the game that could be done better, or have mistakes dont mean I think it has a bad ending, or that it wasnt a fantastic game.

And even if someone did think such, so what? Just because you really enjoyed the game doesnt mean you should rationalize excuses for any of its shortcomings people may or may not think it has, it doesnt need it, it can stand just fine on its own.

I think the distinction is that none of these are really moral choices, so much as they are gameplay choices. If you were given the ability to make decisions like say now to handle a situation, outside of combat, I would be more than willing to agree with you.

 

Also, to touch on the spoiler

Spoiler

it gave you the ability to do that, because, once again, that was a gameplay choice, and doesn't really reflect Joel as a character. I'll maintain that this is the telling of Joel's story, and the only "choices" that the player gets to make are gameplay ones, that don't really show who Joel is as a character.

[Abcdude]

I liked the ending.

 

It made Left 4 Dead possible

 

[SleepingWolf]

I actually liked the ending.

Joel lying to Ellie was a great way to show how selfish humans can be with something or someone they love, I think it

was a great ending that ended with the main character being a bad guy and a liar.

 

Edited by SleepingWolf, 06 July 2013 - 12:29 PM.

[ZombiCarolyn]

I liked the ending.

 

It made Left 4 Dead possible

 

Exactly my thoughts/hopes.