Poll: Last of Us : What would you have done? ( SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

[Vandenberg1]

I had a harrdddd time thinking about what I would of done. I don't think I could have let Ellie die, but I may after 20 years of living in such a world, realizing she can save it all. Probably kill my self later, but world would be saved...

 

[Miss G.]

On a more personal level, she's become the reason I have to go on, screw everyone else. The rest of the population is filled with the insane, cannibals and roving bands of homicidal thieves and human life has become very cheap in the 20 years since the outbreak; what is there to save even if a vaccine COULD be made, mass produced and altruistically handed out?
If man is on it's way out, let it go. On a more ecological level, the world doesn't need us in any way, shape, or fashion and only could be much better off when we're gone. After all, its in our very nature to f*** things up.

 

[Zhukov]

I would have asked Ellie.

That's assuming they could guarantee a vaccine from the procedure, which wasn't the case in the game.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Eh, I probably would've died in the first year the world went to hell.

But seriously, if I was in Joel's shoes, I don't know... Giving up the only person I love in a rotten and collapsed world for the vague promise of a cure, is something I don't think I could bring myself to do either.

Maybe if I could actually have a conversation with her, talk it over, and if she agreed, peacefully say my goodbye, instead of having some armed goons tell me to fuck off right after I saw her drown.

 

[Alfador_VII]

It's a very difficult choice. On one hand after all you've been through over several months with Ellie, she is effectively your daughter.

On the other hand, she could be the last hope for humanity, assuming a cure could be found from her brain. The thing is, could the Fireflies with their limited resources actually produce a viable cure, or even a vaccine to immunise the remaining survivors?

I'm pretty sure that if I asked Ellie, she would be willing to die to save everyone else, but what if it didn't work?

Joel's choice in the game seems increasingly like the least bad one, and after all as he said, while lying admittedly, there could be others out there like Ellie.

One thing I'm sure of, there isn't a "they all lived happily ever after" scenario anywhere in the future...

 

[IronMit]

It's interesting for us to discuss weather it would work or not but I don't think that thought would of entered Joel's head.
Also killings a 14 year old girl - even if she wants it - is pretty deep.
I always refer to the wise words of Gandalf when speaking of life and death

(1min in)

In an interview with TLOU director he said that every parent that played the bit at the end didn't even question it.
The torture bit in the middle, the execution.
I would be interested if any parent on escapist would hesitate or pick the other choice

 

[Miyenne]

I think I would have done just as Joel did. She was a child, even if I'd asked her I knew she would choose to be sacrificed, but she wouldn't understand what it really meant.

In a situation like that, there is no right or wrong. He went with his heart, as would I. Is the human race really worth the life of one little girl?

I don't have children of my own, but I'd do anything for my best friend's daughter. If I had to choose between Emma and humanity possibly dying off, I'd pack Emma and her mom up in my car and drive off so far that no one could ever find us.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Joel did what I would have done, up until lying to Ellie.
If the Fireflies had let Joel see Ellie and given Ellie a chance to make the decision herself, then the ending wouldn't have happened.

Joel wasn't gonna sit by and let his second daughter be killed under the same reasoning that killed his first daughter.

 

[mmmikey]

Marlene screwed herself. She told the baddest m f'er she knew to piss off. All she really had to do was give Joel his chance to see Ellie and let Ellie speak for herself. It was pretty clear that no matter what she intended on going through with it, her journals and recordings show that she was conflicted but her allegiances were with her disgruntled underground. And rather than deal with maybe finding out Ellie was unwilling to go through with it she just made it easier for herself and decided her fate while she was completely defenseless.

While I think Joel thought Ellie would still go through with the surgery given their talk after the giraffes, no one could say for sure. Joel was on the moral high ground until he lied to Ellie. But I'm not sure I can blame him for doing it.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

I would have asked Ellie.

That's assuming they could guarantee a vaccine from the procedure, which wasn't the case in the game.

I keep hearing/reading that the devs said that, yeah, Ellie would indeed have been the cure.

That's not the answer I got from out of playing the game, though. It didn't look all clear cut to me. I was under the impression that there were others like Ellie. I was under the impression that the only thing that was 100% certain was that Ellie would die/get killed and then, maybe, we could get/make the cure.

And I thought... well, that's a cure against the Cordyceps mushroomhead infection thing. It does not fix society. It does not fix mankind. It does not fix the world... so I was all for Joel having his own little world he enjoys living in.

Yes, asking Ellie would have probably been a wise choice, as well. But was she not brought up and heavily influenced by people in a more revolutionary mindset? How 'free' would her will, and her resulting decision be, then? How would the cure, if it ever came to be, be handled? Free-for-all? Only free for the folks of one team, let everyone else die?

Things are never easy when there's people involved. The animal aspect we can rely on. As soon as people put some brain juice in, we're talking chaos, randomness, entropy and plain evil shit.

 

[Hellishkratos]

I would've done just what Joel did. The human race as we know it is pretty much dead, you can even find an old newspaper clip that says 60% of the world's population is either dead or infected. The Fireflies have no way to mass distribute, not to mention they aren't very well trusted. Also, they would've made a vaccine, not a cure, there would still be loads of infected roaming around.
There's also the hunters who don't give two shits about anyone but themselves. I'm guessing the first chance they got they would've stolen loads of the vaccine and hoarded it for themselves. The game paints it pretty clearly that they are worse then the infected.
Really the only thing to do in that world is pretty much what Tommy's group does, make a small self-sustaining settlement and just live. Ellie's death would've been pointless.

 

[IronMit]

Joel did what I would have done, up until lying to Ellie.
If the Fireflies had let Joel see Ellie and given Ellie a chance to make the decision herself, then the ending wouldn't have happened.
Joel wasn't gonna sit by and let his second daughter be killed under the same reasoning that killed his first daughter.

Marlene screwed herself. She told the baddest m f'er she knew to piss off. All she really had to do was give Joel his chance to see Ellie and let Ellie speak for herself. It was pretty clear that no matter what she intended on going through with it, her journals and recordings show that she was conflicted but her allegiances were with her disgruntled underground. And rather than deal with maybe finding out Ellie was unwilling to go through with it she just made it easier for herself and decided her fate while she was completely defenseless.

While I think Joel thought Ellie would still go through with the surgery given their talk after the giraffes, no one could say for sure. Joel was on the moral high ground until he lied to Ellie. But I'm not sure I can blame him for doing it.

Before I respond with my opinion;
Marlene said 'it's what she would want'. She didn't say 'she chose this'. So Ellie wasn't consulted.
When Ellie woke up she said 'What am I wearing'. If she was consulted and made a decision she would know.

Hmm, I think Joel would of killed everyone however they put it. If a 14 year old decided to die (for any cause) I don't think their parent would let them. Even terrorists don't let their kids suicide bomb themselves (however righteous they imagine their cause to be)...they find other people/kids.

I do agree that If Ellie was asked she probably would have agreed-then again she's 14. There were certain quotes from her that highlight her survivors guilt; Speaking of Riley, the airplane metaphor and 'it can't all of been for nothing', Sam.
When Joel lied (and Ellie knew he lied - TLOU director said as much in a kotaku interview) Joel spared her of the decision and guilt. He carried the burden of guilt...even though he also did it for selfish reasons.

 

[Scott Rothman]

I would have asked Ellie.

That's assuming they could guarantee a vaccine from the procedure, which wasn't the case in the game.

Seriously, she would have most likely agreed to it. It's what she wanted. Why didn't they just ask her. What kind of life could Joel really live at this point knowing that their entire relationship from this point on is a lie? Also, I don't understand why the surgery would have guaranteed her death. It's not like people haven't undergone open brain surgery before.

 

[F-I-D-O]

I have a couple problems with how the fireflies handled the situation.
1 - "Okay, we got the girl. STRAIGHT TO OPERATING ROOM. Don't check for poison or advanced infection or give her a chance to say goodbye."
2 - Open brain surgery isn't routine, but it certanily doesn't have a 100% death rate. Don't take the whole brain. Take part of the infection from her arm or a little cranial fungus (or some from the likely path that exists from the infection point to her brain). Is she guaranteed to live if they to take some from her head? No, but at least they're making an effort.
3 - A cure isn't guaranteed.
4 - The fungus is said to take over the host and be able to tell if the host is wounded. It then takes the body into a confined area and "kills" the host, at which point the body begins spreading spores. Humanity could hypothetically wait it out, as hosts become weaker due to lack of nutrients.
I would have felt better had Ellie been given a choice (Joel would have only accepted one answer), but if I were in that situation, I think I would have made Ellie wait. The infection isn't going anywhere, and her life shouldn't be ended unless a cure is guaranteed. Hell, with a period of study, the Fireflies could have found a safer method of getting the mutated fungus.

[sub]Sorry for any formatting/spelling errors in that last paragraph. I have a fucking ad over the lower corner of my textbox.[/sub]

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Before I respond with my opinion;
Marlene said 'it's what she would want'. She didn't say 'she chose this'. So Ellie wasn't consulted.
When Ellie woke up she said 'What am I wearing'. If she was consulted and made a decision she would know.

That's what we both said. Neither of us are buying Marlene's bullshit. Unless Ellie was shown to have made the choice herself, then Marlene is just saying what she wants to Ellie to have said.

Hmm, I think Joel would of killed everyone however they put it. If a 14 year old decided to die (for any cause) I don't think their parent would let them. Even terrorists don't let their kids suicide bomb themselves (however righteous they imagine their cause to be)...they find other people/kids.

But that's not the issue. The issue is that the Fireflies weren't willing to compromise. Hell they were planning on killing Joel after he dropped off Ellie to make sure it didn't happen, Marlene was only letting him go to be nice (yay, thanks for not killing me after I traveled 2,362 miles for you, yes I looked it up).

If Joel had killed all of them despite Ellie making the choice, then the ending would take a different tone. But the Fireflies struck the first blow when they ignored both his and Ellie's humanity.

 

[Fox12]

I never felt like it was the end of the world anyway. The fungus in the game exists in real life, and I've never heard of it wiping out an entire species. Besides, there will be more people born immune, if those people don't already exist. It's part of the natural order. The human race will evolve to fight the threat like Ellie did. She's just ahead of the curve. Thousands of people will die because of the decision though.

The real question is what would Ellie have done? I think most people agree she would have sacrificed herself. The fact that Joel took that choice away from her, when it was entirely her choice to make, is what made the ending so sad. Of course, the fireflies wouldn't have given her a choice either, and would probably have turned her into a martyr in order to get people to rally around them. Whoever has a cure, has all the power. I'm sure the military could have synthesized a cure if they wanted, but clearly the fireflies wanted to make sure THEY had the cure. Whoever had the cure effectively won the war, because they can offer something the other side can't. The fireflies clearly cared less about saving humanity, and more about gaining personal power. In that sense they're even worse than Joel, who seems to be the only person who actually cares about Ellie as a person, and not an object.

At the same time, it was obvious that Ellie knew Joel was lying to her. It would be interesting to see how this is resolved. She can't really get angry and be surprised at Joel if she ever gets told the truth, because she clearly chose to believe the lie because of her unquestionable tie with Joel, and because she wanted to be able to live with the guilt she must have felt at that point.

 

[lionsprey]

going by what you saw in the game. Fuck humanity. even assuming the fireflys where 100% legit humanity doesn't deserve a cure.

 

[theuprising]

Marlene screwed herself. She told the baddest m f'er she knew to piss off. All she really had to do was give Joel his chance to see Ellie and let Ellie speak for herself. It was pretty clear that no matter what she intended on going through with it, her journals and recordings show that she was conflicted but her allegiances were with her disgruntled underground. And rather than deal with maybe finding out Ellie was unwilling to go through with it she just made it easier for herself and decided her fate while she was completely defenseless.

While I think Joel thought Ellie would still go through with the surgery given their talk after the giraffes, no one could say for sure. Joel was on the moral high ground until he lied to Ellie. But I'm not sure I can blame him for doing it.

I agree w/ Yahtzee on this one, yall are all sociopaths if you are on Joel's side of thinking... on ANYTHING.

 

[mmmikey]

Marlene screwed herself. She told the baddest m f'er she knew to piss off. All she really had to do was give Joel his chance to see Ellie and let Ellie speak for herself. It was pretty clear that no matter what she intended on going through with it, her journals and recordings show that she was conflicted but her allegiances were with her disgruntled underground. And rather than deal with maybe finding out Ellie was unwilling to go through with it she just made it easier for herself and decided her fate while she was completely defenseless.

While I think Joel thought Ellie would still go through with the surgery given their talk after the giraffes, no one could say for sure. Joel was on the moral high ground until he lied to Ellie. But I'm not sure I can blame him for doing it.

I agree w/ Yahtzee on this one, yall are all sociopaths if you are on Joel's side of thinking... on ANYTHING.

Hate to tell you but when you're in a situation where a bunch of people want what you have, whatever little it might be, shoes, wallet, shirt, your life means zero. That's even in the world we live in now. You're best bet is to get the hell out of there or fight for your life cause its on the line. You didn't HAVE to kill every single person in the game.

How many encounters were friendly? Bill, Sam & Henry, and Tommy. That's it. And guess what Joel didn't kill and of them. One guy in the front end of the game in Boston says "what are you looking at?" Which is a clear challenge and Joel lets it slide. He doesn't take on unnecessary fights, cause it may be his last.

 

[Brown Cap]

I'd let her go, but I would probably no longer have the reason to live. It'd probably kill both of us.
I'd know it would be the right thing to do, but I would either end of dying from a broken heart or suicide, or at least begin helping with the cure. (But the former is more likely)