The Uneasy Ending of The Last of Us

IGN - Naughty Dog and the conflict between interactivity and narrative.

[Gazondaily]

Maybe change the image Mezzo because I know a couple of people who haven't completed the game and this might spoil it for them? I know its not a MAJOR spoiler but I know some people that might complain.

[KiRBY3000]

my thoughts exactly. i would have been pissed if i saw this picture before finishing the game.

[xHeavYx]

@Septic
I don't think the image is a spoiler at all, but your comment may be as big as a spoiler

[mewhy32]

the ending is a tough choice.

[HammadTheBeast]

I'm not sure if they've actually know which part the screens from, unless they stopped at the point right before that part.

[orakle44]

That picture is FAR from a spoiler, someone who has never played/beat TLoU has no idea what that picure means, its just a screen of joel holding ellie......not a spoiler.

[Tainted Gene]

nope

[GarrusVakarian]

They don't need to know what it means, they know at some point something will happen to ellie for her to be passed out in joels arms. Because spoilers are subjective and some people might find the tiniest detail a spoiler and others won't, its best to just give a warning beforehand.

[Gr1mmyshadows]

did ellie die? looks like she might be dead from this image

[GarrusVakarian]

If im not mistaken, this is the same guy that spoiled the Assassin Creed 3 ending for people (myself included) by posting spoilers in the article title, now there are spoilers in the image for this article too, great.

[GarrusVakarian]

Letting the spoiler picture go onto the front page, even better. Great job. /S

[NukaCola]

It's just like all the GTA V spoilers right in the title. There is no shame. Millions of dollars worth of time and effort and one or two jackoffs seem to enjoy ruining it for the rest of us.

I am glad I managed to keep every bit of TLOU spoiler info a secret. This game is meant to experience going in almost blind. It's incredible.

[DragonKnight]

I'm not sure if you finished the game or not, but that image isn't much of a spoiler.

[Lannister]

Of course it, is because now you'll play the game waiting for this scene to turn up. Like waiting for the scene where the Hulk catched Iron Man because they put it in most of the Avengers trailers.

It's spoiler enough IMO

[DragonKnight]

It really isn't. It doesn't tell you what's going on in the scene, what led up to the scene, what happened after the scene. You don't have any clue what this is about in the game or when it's happening. For all you know, it's at the beginning of the game. I can think of far worse images to use as spoilers.

[gillri]

SPOILERS!

I roasted all the doctors alive with my flamethrower

[user7402931]

i just want to say this gamw is awesome .

then say...sequel. there's gotta be.

[Thehyph]

i just want to say this gamw is goddamn awesome .

then say...sequel. there's goddamn gotta be.

Fixed.

[user7402931]

goddammit danny...

[knifefight]

*grits teeth*
Find someone else!

[Walker]

Mezzo change the picture NOW !

[-Mezzo-]

Is that a threat?

Plus: I cannot change image once it's approved, which it was, by the time I found out that this image ( That really isn't saying anything ) is considered a spoiler by some members.

[zeroskie]

The pic itself is a massive spoiler, wth.

[DragonKnight]

Not really.

[Studio-YaMi]

Ok I'll agree that the image itself is not a big spoiler,but that title ?

"The uneasy ending of the last of us" ??

That's like saying "hey,it has a terrible or sad ending" !

Come on ! I haven't played the game yet ! :(

[KonsoruMasuta]

GOOD LORD, MAN! This just ruined it for me. I still haven't even beat the game.

[knifefight]

The pic is a spoiler, but it doesn't tell all you need to know about what's going on there.

Ignore and press on. Sucks that you saw it, but press on. You'll be alright.

All that play time. It can't be for nothing.

[play17boy]

I just beat it yesterday and I'm probably alone in this, but I found the ending to be a little anti-climactic.

[jimmywolf]

"spoilers in my post"

wonder why you feel that way? you wanted a happy ending were the world was save an everyone live happily ever after? or were it shows them growing old an happy/sad?

i felt the game was well made an told the story well i read few their other idea an glad they went this route

in the end i would done the same, people wanting the vaccine are forgetting their no guarantee it would have worked. even if it did the fire fly's were broken even before joel showed up, they split in two with half of them hunting people they would not been able fight the government too keep the vaccine.

even if they gave it too them willing, they would keep it for themselves for military control. the world would shifted too new threat an still would been a dark place. least this way they have a chance too rebuild an new world.

[DragonKnight]

*SPOILERS*

Agreed. What Joel did showed a knowledge of the current state of the world and he decided to take the chance that had the better odds. Ellie probably knows that Joel was lying and why, but she also probably knows, deep down, that he was right. She also probably likes having a father figure to look after her and can now have a life with Joel and his brother's family.

The ending is that perfect grey ending where you realize that that's just how life is. We need more games like that in my opinion.

[_QQ_]

*BIG SPOILERS*
@Jimmywolf am i the only one that thinks the ending is closer to a happy ending? The entire game you learn about how fucked up the people have become, and your last encounter with another person before the ending is a guy who tries to rape Ellie.

That being said by the end of the game you don't care what happens to the world,you only care what happens to ellie and joel. The ending is sad in execution, but happy in resolution.

Also the game foreshadows the ending enough times to have a general idea of what will happen,for example when Joel ignores the family on the side of the road in the beginning it sets up that he is Selfish.The two black gus act as a foil to ellie and joel,so when The older one kills himself over the death of his brother it represents how Joel couldn't live without ellie.

[Conzul]

@Dragon @lopez

OMG so well said, both!!!
+ intelligent bubs

[aquamala]

***spoilers**

I didn't want to kill these doctors at the end, but I have to in order to progress the game, lame, why pretend to give me a choice when I have to do what the game expects me to do?

[Midgus]

Great spoiler in the pic, well done! /S

[DragonKnight]

How the hell do you people think the pic is such a massive spoiler? It really doesn't tell you anything that happened before or after that pic and leaves the actual pic widely open to interpretation. Some people are far too sensitive to spoilers.

Spoilers never affect me. I always understand that there is a difference between being told an ending or seeing a spoiler pic, and actually experiencing the events yourself while playing the game. I think more people need that attitude because it's no one's fault that they finished a game before you did and want to talk about it with others that may have.

[GarrusVakarian]

"Spoilers never affect me"

Oh, that's ok then, if they don't affect you then they must not affect anyone else. Spoilers are subjective, something that YOU might not call a spoiler, someone else will. That picture tells you that at one point of the game joel will have ellie in his arms passed out in a hospital gown, sure it doesn't tell why or how but it tells you that it happens. If i saw that before completing the game i would constantly be thinking "at one point something is going to happen to ellie that causes her to be in joels arms in a hospital gown". Many people would consider that a spoiler, no matter how little.

"it's no one's fault that they finished a game before you did and want to talk about it with others that may have."

I agree, but have some common courtesy and warn people beforehand. Jesus Christ, is that so much to ask?

"It really isn't."

See? Subjective, that's your opinion.. I could say "it really is".

"Some people are far too sensitive to spoilers. "

You are damn right they are, you don't look forward to something for months/years just to have something spoiled before you play it. Im talking about anything here not just videogames.

[DragonKnight]

Your entire post wreaks of over-sensitivity.

"Oh, that's ok then, if they don't affect you then they must not affect anyone else."

Because that's what I said.

"That picture tells you that at one point of the game joel will have ellie in his arms passed out in a hospital gown, sure it doesn't tell why or how but it tells you that it happens."

So? The picture could have been of Joel looking out at a landscape. Is the game ruined for you then because you're going to be anticipating that? Of course not. You have no idea when this scene occurs, why it occurs, and basically the context doesn't exist for you. Being upset by the picture is something you're actively choosing to do. Most people who don't anything about an arbitrarily chosen scene aren't going to get upset because they've placed an expectation to see that scene somewhere in the game. And even with that expectation, the fact that you have no clue as to what the scene represents means that any diminished experience you feel you are having is on you, not the person who chose the scene to portray. There is a far worse picture I could choose straight from the beginning of the game that would be a MAJOR spoiler because it doesn't need context beyond knowing who is in the picture. This picture is not such a spoiler.

"If i saw that before completing the game i would constantly be thinking "at one point something is going to happen to ellie that causes her to be in joels arms in a hospital gown".

And that's your problem. For all you know, she could have just passed out. It could be early in the game. You're deciding to look for the worst case scenario and fixate on that then complain that someone showed you something you didn't want to see. No one controls your eyes but you, no one controls your expectations but you.

"I agree, but have some common courtesy and warn people beforehand. Jesus Christ, is that so much to ask?"

Why? I know it wouldn't be difficult to put in *SPOILERS* in the headline, but why should they have to? It's not that person's fault you haven't finished the game. If you haven't finished it, why are you looking for The Last of Us information that isn't a guide or a "things we want to see in DLC or a sequel" article?

"See? Subjective, that's your opinion.. I could say "it really is".

No, it's not subjective, it's fact. That literally isn't any kind of spoiler. Spoiler involves context, and that picture has none save for "something happened." The only people who think of it as a spoiler are the people that WANT to think of it as a spoiler. YOU HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT THE CONTEXT OR TIMING OF THE PICTURE, HOW ARE YOU SPOILED ABOUT THE STORY THEN?

"You are damn right they are, you don't look forward to something for months/years just to have something spoiled before you play it. Im talking about anything here not just videogames."

Except this didn't spoil anything. At all. I am 90% certain no one looking at this picture is at the beginning of the game, saw this picture, then threw their controller down and went "f***, I can't finish this now!" That's just ridiculous.

[GarrusVakarian]

I refuse to even carry on a debate with someone so hard headed and cocky enough to call his/her opinion "fact".

Sigh.

[DragonKnight]

It isn't my opinion. It's a fact that you have no context about the picture. Calling a picture with absolutely no context or hint of context a spoiler is ridiculous. That's not an opinion. My opinion would be that there are far worse pictures that could be used even right at the beginning of the game that spoil the game more. But it is a fact that person getting upset about this picture, citing it as a spoiler, are getting up in arms literally over nothing.

[Death]

"Un bon croquis vaut mieux qu'un long discours" -Napoleon Bonaparte

Maybe better known as "a picture is worth a thousand words".

[DragonKnight]

@Death: "A good sketch is better than a long speech."

Yep, sounds exactly the same as "A picture is worth a thousand words."

[Conzul]

Whether or not it's a spoiler is irrelevant. It's been months since it came out - F@%&K everyone who hasn't played it and comes to an article about the ending...they're idiots.

Given the very nature of the article itself, this whole comment section should be flooded with intelligent, spoiler-loaded discussion. But NOOOO, as far as I scroll, there are whining morons.
Screw them.
I came here to hate on people who hate Joel, and now I can't even do THAT.

[orakle44]

That picture is far from a spoiler to someone who hasnt beat the game.....its just a picture of joel holding ellie. People that have beat the game know where the picture is from and what it means, but to someone who hasnt played/beat it, its not a spoiler to anything. You people are so quick to over-react, take a step back and think about it first.

[_QQ_]

Well since noone is talking about the article but the spoilers instead i'll be the first.
*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*
So personaly i wanted joel to to save ellie as i explained in a comment above, but for those who were expecting the oppisite ND making you play as ellie in the end was genius. Most people probably don't think about this stuff but if you were expecting that bittersweet ending, you probably felt disconnected from joel,you felt betrayed by joel,you pretty much were ellie in that situation.In fact the entire game you play as the character you connect better with because you share their feelings,either worried about joel being hurt,or worried about protecting ellie.

But the ending isn't just about that.How many of you would feel dirty if you played as joel in those last few minutes.Almost the entire game you play as joel and like all good games you become one with the character, but when he makes that decision you feel that you just aren't Joel anymore.You become ellie because you feel cheated,you had no say in joels actions.Sure you have the controller but you were powerless to change anything, just as ellie was.