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Former Naughty Dog programmer talks about how a slightly different ending was considered for TLOU 2 (translated from 2020 interview)

then why did abby kill joel?????????????????????


Revenge, obviously. But once she gets it, it doesn't fulfill her. Abby's nightmares stop when she saves Yara. Unlike Ellie, who cannot rest or even sleep because Abby is still alive. She lives happily with her loved ones but cannot let it go.

In the end, you see which of the girls was in the right. Ellie is left with nothing. However, there is hope that she will start over since she is not attached to her past anymore. She cannot play guitar, but she cannot fight either. Having a main character amputated is a huge statement.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
Revenge, obviously. But once she gets it, it doesn't fulfill her. Abby's nightmares stop when she saves Yara. Unlike Ellie, who cannot rest or even sleep because Abby is still alive. She lives happily with her loved ones but cannot let it go.

In the end, you see which of the girls was in the right. Ellie is left with nothing. However, there is hope that she will start over since she is not attached to her past anymore. She cannot play guitar, but she cannot fight either. Having a main character amputated is a huge statement.
eh, Abby does the exact same thing as Ellie and is somehow in the right? The only difference is that Abby gets to kill Joel and Ellie doesn't get to kill Abby so... the avenger who gets to kill its target is the fairer one apparently?

Its stuff like this that makes the plot fall flat.
 
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I still can't believe that Brains 100 Druckmann did the meme ending that is meant to be taken entirely 100% seriously as one of the great dramas of all time.
Hero/Protagonist; Kills 1000 henchmen. Arrives at villain. "If I killed you I'd be just like you." *walks away*, except worse because there is not even that terrible excuse, there is nothing at all. "I guess I'll let you go, why not." The cope is she remembered that Joel existed (lmao) and that he wouldn't want her to do this (giga double 100x lmao, if you remember who Joel is) based on nothing nor does she articulate this.
Truly one of the tales of all time.

The only way to even slightly fix the ending would be letting Ellie choose if she goes after Abby at the farm. If yes, current ending proceeds, Abby dies, wife left, no fingers, was it worth it? Alternative choice, stay at farm, keep wife, not mutilated, muh cycle of revenge ended, congratulation. This is such an obvious fix that it is stunning that Mr. Brains 100 couldn't comprehend it. She goes there, meme ending proceeds, no choice, get fucked over anyways, dumbass. It just makes Ellie look idiotic (which she was) and Abby as nothing, since she never even conversed with Ellie, they both just sort of stare at each other and say hi, pls no fight, yes fight. *fight* "Nah." Bye, see ya. The hilarious part about it is Abby should be rightfully flabbergasted with no other emotion. "WTF was that? She came here to fight me, I mutilated her, she could've killed me, and instead she left?? Uh sure, bye!"

The true message of the game Brains 100 and the fans don't seem to realize is unintentionally, but completely consistently is actually **FINISH THE JOB**. Had Abby not been invented for offscreen, Joel would've gotten away with it, he had 100% the correct idea at end of 1. Had he known more people were offscreen and he had finished the job, no issue in part 2. Had Abby finished the job with Ellie, no issue in part 2, her friends would've lived. Same second encounter. Then if Ellie had finished Abby, no issue further since she regrets nothing in the theoretical part 3 that hopefully will never happen. Every single time people don't finish the job they're punished for it, lol. The very opposite of revenge bad, cycle of revenge needs to be ended by giving up.
 
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Best part of the game was being able to spend 20 hours purposely killing Abby in a variety of scenarios. Bliss. Oh and FUCK ABBY. FUCK DRUCKMANN. BOYCOTT ND!
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
Honestly there is worse stuff. The whole cross the country for revenge plot is something often gets mentioned, and is indeed very dumb. Imagine crossing vast expanses of land infested with zombies and bandits, leaving all of your life behind just to kill some guy.
Worked for Blood Omen/Soul Reaver. But I imagine the difference is the story was actually good and you actually are supportive of both characters. Revenge is bad is actually rather inept as a concept. Revenge generally is two things. First it's a honest motivation. Secondly it most cases leaves you feeling empty and unfulfilled.

Revenge is POWERFUL. But after revenge is complete you are left empty and devoid of meaning. And all that motivation, all that power that moves you forward goes away. You only persist if something else fills the void.

The fact alone a higher percentage of players wanted to kill Abby for "reasons" speaks volumes. The removal of choice just means they wanted to control the narrative so you are really just playing through a interactive visual novel.

The story between the 2 is around Redemption and Forgiveness it's just executed terribly. With better writing the story and it's themes would have been fine.

A far better conclusion if they wanted to avert Ellie killing Abby was if persay Abby fell off a cliff but survived unbeknownst to Ellie and you get the monologue of how someone had everything taken from them...even their revenge. They either stay stagnant or move on begrudgingly or you take on a similar role in The Fox and the Hound(movie version...book version isn't as pretty).

Gargoyles is a bit more interesting since Goliath's reasoning for revenge is noble. Whereas Demona's reasoning for revenge is born out of hatred and resentment which to this day in Gargoyles canon has screwed her over. However in Gargoyles case both characters are well received.

Examples being Gargoyles vs Vikings and Fox and the Hound.



 

Hugare

Member
'Growing to realize' lol. No shit revenge is bad, it's the most common trope there is and was done with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Almost comical, considering RDR2 did the same exact theme much better two years prior. The only people who cried during TLOU2 are part of the im14thisisdeep crowd.

The 'braver' decision would have been giving the player the CHOICE to kill Abby in the end. Taking that away undermined everything the 20+ hour playthrough stood for. Absolutely baffling.
lol, yeah, RDR 2 did it so much better. Right.

You kill Micah in the end in slow mo. Micah being a cartoon vilain, deep as a puddle.

People crying about not having a choice just like they didnt have one in Part I

Games are interactive, but that doesnt mean that every game gotta have multiple endings and etc. Most of the best games of all time dont. They are all better for it.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
Worked for Blood Omen/Soul Reaver. But I imagine the difference is the story was actually good and you actually are supportive of both characters. Revenge is bad is actually rather inept as a concept. Revenge generally is two things. First it's a honest motivation. Secondly it most cases leaves you feeling empty and unfulfilled.
I haven't played them (yet) but the scenario should work there because its a fantasy setting where the main characters are these ultra powerful beings, so going through great lenghts to get revenge for them doesn't sound far-fetched.

Revenge is POWERFUL. But after revenge is complete you are left empty and devoid of meaning. And all that motivation, all that power that moves you forward goes away. You only persist if something else fills the void.

The fact alone a higher percentage of players wanted to kill Abby for "reasons" speaks volumes. The removal of choice just means they wanted to control the narrative so you are really just playing through a interactive visual novel.

The story between the 2 is around Redemption and Forgiveness it's just executed terribly. With better writing the story and it's themes would have been fine.

A far better conclusion if they wanted to avert Ellie killing Abby was if persay Abby fell off a cliff but survived unbeknownst to Ellie and you get the monologue of how someone had everything taken from them...even their revenge. They either stay stagnant or move on begrudgingly or you take on a similar role in The Fox and the Hound(movie version...book version isn't as pretty).

Gargoyles is a bit more interesting since Goliath's reasoning for revenge is noble. Whereas Demona's reasoning for revenge is born out of hatred and resentment which to this day in Gargoyles canon has screwed her over. However in Gargoyles case both characters are well received.

Examples being Gargoyles vs Vikings and Fox and the Hound.




Its a common scenario that has been done countless times with different interpretations and formats. Its also part of the reason why many people tend to be critical of TLoU2. They've seen that movie, and often with much better executions.

I feel the people who get endeared with this game either never seen one of those types of story or are generally weak towards storytelling within interactive mediums, even more so one with such high production values as this one.
 
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MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
I think something to keep in mind is players would do one thing and Ellie/Abby will do something else entirely. And that's why choice was removed. For some the choice made was correct and to others they cannot fathom how the characters came to that conclusion. Thus the disconnect.
 

RJMacready73

Simps for Amouranth
I'm replaying through TLOU remake and absolutely loving it, after spending 30hrs with nilhilistic and revenge consumed Ellie in Pt2 I grew to dislike her character by the end whereas playing through Pt1 you see why you loved her in the first place, I mean what fucking game does that, make you really feel a connection to these digital mannequins lol, ya gotta hand it to ND love em or hate em, they can write and create brilliantly deep videogame characters unlike any other studio out there
 
Kinda crazy that Druckmann & Co. deliberately ignored some clear user feedback that showed signs of dissatisfaction. Should've been telling players wouldn't be thrilled about the Abby switcheroo. I guess he really intended to make gamers feel miserable.
 
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xrnzaaas

Member
So basically they've still failed, because the game still felt like it should've given the player a choice how to end Abby's story. Being able to merely follow the pre-planned story was acceptable in the first game (I think the vast majority would react exactly like Joel in the hospital scene), but that definitely failed in the sequel. Not everyone's gonna empathize with Abby and agree with Ellie's choice.
 
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John Bilbo

Member
The only way to even slightly fix the ending would be letting Ellie choose if she goes after Abby at the farm. If yes, current ending proceeds, Abby dies, wife left, no fingers, was it worth it? Alternative choice, stay at farm, keep wife, not mutilated, muh cycle of revenge ended, congratulation. This is such an obvious fix that it is stunning that Mr. Brains 100 couldn't comprehend it.
I wished the story to take the another direction after Joel's death. I disagreed with every choice Ellie made after that.

They could have made the Far Cry 4 choice and make "a hidden ending" in several points of the game for the players that did not want the revenge plot to unravel as it did.
 

Roni

Member
No shit revenge is bad, it's the most common trope there is...
I'd say TLOU2's strength lies not in the novelty, but in the execution. Having the player experience both sides in equal proportion is much more powerful than just saying or showing: "hey, look, there's this other side!"
 
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I loved all the mechanical and graphical improvements to everything from TLOU1 to 2, but damn, that story just sucked. I did not like it. It was not like The Road, which is what I felt like they were trying so hard to do. I did not empathize with Abbey at all. I thought she was a bad character. I thought Ellie made some really dumb decisions based on how I had perceived her character going into TLOU2. I just didn't like the game's story so much that all the really impressive improvements to everything else were less impactful to me.

I kind of felt the same with MGSV. I loved the gameplay, but the story was so bad...But at least that game mixed a lot of content with Kojima's craziness and still had value. I've not been able to replay part 2 because I just know how much of a drag a large portion of it is even if it has some incredible set-piece moments.
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
So basically they've still failed, because the game still felt like it should've given the player a choice how to end Abby's story. Being able to merely follow the pre-planned story was acceptable in the first game (I think the vast majority would react exactly like Joel in the hospital scene), but that definitely failed in the sequel. Not everyone's gonna empathize with Abby and agree with Ellie's choice.

Just because some players wanted to kill her doesn't mean that they failed. If they wanted everyone to like the game then they would have never decided to kill Joel.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
I'd say TLOU2's strength lies not in the novelty, but in the execution. Having the player experience both sides is much more powerful than just saying or showing: "hey, look, there's this other side!"
Thats not necessarely good execution. You run the risk of bloating the story without need, and seems thats exactly what happened.

If they really really wanted to tell that story, they should've cut Ellie's segment completely and made the entire game about Abby, and made the contents of the game clear from the get go.... but if they did that people wouldn't buy it, unsurprisingly, since its a story people weren't really interested in.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?

Will Smith Thats Funny GIF by MOODMAN
 

Roni

Member
Thats not necessarely good execution. You run the risk of bloating the story without need, and seems thats exactly what happened.

If they really really wanted to tell that story, they should've cut Ellie's segment completely and made the entire game about Abby, and made the contents of the game clear from the get go.... but if they did that people wouldn't buy it, unsurprisingly, since its a story people weren't really interested in.
The whole point is showing both sides in the same experience. So that idea wouldn't work.
Personally, games are likes books to me: they shouldn't rush anything if they have something to say. And TLOU2 had something to say, so I would've played it to completion even if it was double the duration. Not every game needs to be short, sweet and to the point like a movie.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
The whole point is showing both sides in the same experience. So that idea wouldn't work.
Personally, games are likes books to me: they shouldn't rush anything if they have something to say. And TLOU2 had something to say, so I would've played it to completion even if it was double the duration. Not every game needs to be short, sweet and to the point like a movie.
Even in book writting its commonly recommended to not waste the reader's time. In the case of TLoU2, we already knew the two's story, Ellie and Joel's relationship, and so on. This even shows as Ellie's 'story' has barely any character development through most of it.

By all accounts, the author already wanted TLoU2 to be "the other side" of TLoU1, there was no space for Ellie in it besides her antagonist role. But they added her like they did anyway, cause they knew no one would've bought the game if otherwise.
 
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Interesting. I think they did a good job getting you to empathise with Abby. I liked Abby by the end, I preferred her character, and kinda hated Ellie by the end. I’d quite happily play as Abby along with a new male character in the third game (or Abby and Tommy). Given Ellie’s unique role in the game tho I find it unlikely they’ll just kill her off…but they could have her none playable and further down the path of the antagonist/villain so she can be sacrificed to a lab at the end to formulate a cure.

This.

By the end, I was done with Ellie. I feel like she was a real dickhead to Joel in the flashbacks just because he chose to save her from being murdered.

Abby was the object of fierce loathing after what she did to Joel, but by the end, I empathized with her and was rooting for her to put Ellie down.
 
Interesting that they received all of this feedback, and yet were not able to address those issues. They could have seen the divisiveness coming.
 

Flabagast

Member
Interesting that they received all of this feedback, and yet were not able to address those issues. They could have seen the divisiveness coming.
When you are doing an artistic endeavour you should'nt consider too much the feedback from normies, otherwise you risk end up with a very standard uninteresting product.

I am glad they did not care about potential backlash and decided to go with their initial ideas
 
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Del_X

Member
Druckman is a hack, the story was shit. Still the best "stalk and stab and shoot" type game. Too bad it's bogged down by 60% shit cutscenes and self-indulgent trite.
 

GudOlRub

Member
Some play testers refused to kill dogs and just stopped playing, and others killed themselves on purpose while playing as Abby against Ellie.
Some play testers just kept pressing the button to try and finish Abby though, which didn't work very well.


My fucking sides
Happy Interview GIF by Tondrakht


So, despite half the game being focused on Abby and trying to make players empathize with her, testers kept trying to kill her and still, apparently this wasn't a good enough of a clue to make them realize perhaps the story wasn't as well thought out as it was supposed to...
Someone over at ND really likes the smell of their own farts huh?
 

Roni

Member
This even shows as Ellie's 'story' has barely any character development through most of it.
C'mon...

Ellie starts 2 as a girl who has been lied to and has to deal with a caretaker that perpetuates that lie as they try and get closer and closer. Even though she's happy, the doubt eats away at her and she eventually gives in and goes looking for the answer. This breaks her heart and she grows distant of Joel. Right as they're about to rekindle the relationship, the past comes knocking and takes that opportunity away. In anger, she seeks revenge and becomes increasingly cruel and desperate, to the point she kills a pregnant woman and destroys (again) the life of someone who had already had her life ruined once by Ellie and Joel. She is almost killed by Abby and, from them on, is haunted not only by the ghost of defeat, but also by the fact she never got revenge for Joel. She leaves her family to complete the job, only to find the source of her anguish broken, battered and defeated. The reality doesn't match up with the nightmare. Lost, she goes ahead with her revenge only to remember the moment of forgiveness between her and Joel as the only thing worthwhile in a good many years in their relationship. She changes her mind, understanding the horrible thing Abby did to her doesn't invalidate the fact she's caring for a child now and lets Abby live and escape. Ellie goes back home to find her family gone and discovers that her obssession with revenge for Joel ended up taking away something that connected her with Joel: playing the guitar.

You can't tell me with a straight face that woman starts and ends the game in the same place.
 
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All this talk about the divisive final version makes me think that maybe Naughty Dog should've done something that respects both interpretations of the original. Like, decide who you would've sided with at some crossroads point during the story ("Joel-only" route or "Abby-only" route) to understand both perspectives. That probably would've been far more interesting and ambitious. Instead they relegated people into only one direction.
 
It's such a fun game but there more than a few changes that would make it a lot better.

There are way too many flashbacks. Especially after major story beats like Joels death. I get they are supposed to be like memories but they never made me sad personally.

I think a more chronological approach would have been better and because every level ends in a black screen, that's how I play the game now, chronologically through the chapters leading up to Joel's death.

There was also such a wasted opportunity to have the player switch back and forth between Abby and Ellie in their theater fight scene. That would have been awesome.

Of course, the trans stuff as well adds nothing to the story.

The game should have just been about Abby and Joel gets killed at the end of 2 or in Part 3.
 
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sloppyjoe_gamer

Gold Member
It's a game about growing to realize your revenge is a never ending circle and letting go.
That ending is incredible and it's eye opening to see the divide of streamers/let's plays who cried at the end and those who screamed "fuck abby, I want to kill her, why can't I kill her".
yeah.... empathy and all that stuff... that must say something about irl personality...

I personally cried at the end and they both lost everything. Abby grew on me as a character and I really disliked her like everyone else. That game is a real emotion rollercoasters.

765040.jpg
 

Guilty_AI

Member
You can't tell me with a straight face that woman starts and ends the game in the same place.
No, but i can tell you most of what you described thats actual development either happens in the first hour of the game or it's last 15 minutes. Thats means around 10-15 hours of Ellie's story with no development and just a hammering of "Ellie is sad/broken/angry/whatever" over and over again.

"Oh no, i tortured someone, i'm sad and evil."
"Oh no, i killed a pregnant woman, i'm miserable and broken."
"Oh no, i failed my revenge mission. Guess i'll abandon my girlfriend and just try again. I'm really a fucked person!"

Thats not character development, its misery porn. She stays on the exact same state of "muh revenge" for the vast majority of the story. Its just tiring.
 
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Roni

Member
No, but i can tell you most of what you described thats actual development either happens in the first hour of the game or it's last 15 minutes. Thats means around 10-15 hours of Ellie's story with no development and just a hammering of "Ellie is sad/broken/angry/whatever" over and over again.

"Oh no, i tortured someone, i'm sad and evil."
"Oh no, i killed a pregnant woman, i'm miserable and broken."
"Oh no, i failed my revenge mission. Guess i'll abandon my girlfriend and just try again. I'm really a fucked person!"

Thats not character development, its misery porn. She stays on the exact same state of "muh revenge" for the vast majority of the story. Its just tiring.
A good chunk of what I wrote happens during the flashbacks, which are peppered throughout the first half of the game. So it's not during the first hour or the last 15 minutes...
 
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Guilty_AI

Member
A good chunk of what I wrote happens during the flashbacks, which are peppered throughout the first half of the game. So it's not during the first hour or the last 15 minutes...
We already know what happened by the first hour, those flashbacks are just extra flavor to those events. And guess what, they just so happen to be most people's favorite parts of the game.

Too bad the game isn't about them, and that they're still just a fraction of the actual story content.
 
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My fucking sides
Happy Interview GIF by Tondrakht


So, despite half the game being focused on Abby and trying to make players empathize with her, testers kept trying to kill her and still, apparently this wasn't a good enough of a clue to make them realize perhaps the story wasn't as well thought out as it was supposed to...
Someone over at ND really likes the smell of their own farts huh?
Why is this even a big deal? The first game literally has the same situation with Joel in the hospital. A ton of people didn't want to kill the doctors, but in the end your forced to.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
So only choices make sense when you play some noname ? Weak argument imo. Btw I liked Abby ;d Her feelings were justified also he had some rough days during gameplay was hard not to feel some pitty ;d
Choices make sense in role playing games. TLOU isnt a role playing game. You dont have to have no name characters. Shepard in Mass Effect made choices and it made sense.

TLOU2 is Neil's story. Joel's choice to save Ellie and doom humanity was Neil's choice. Not yours. he wanted to have you experience that choice and thanks to a 15 hour journey was able to make both Ellie and Joel likeable enough so that you would be onboard with that selfish choice. He wasnt able to pull it off with Abby.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Give players choice would be better imo

They knew the story wasn't going to end with TLOU2. So giving a choice wouldn't have been good going forward. I love this programmer saying this though. This stuff should be happening more often!!!
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I still can't believe that Brains 100 Druckmann did the meme ending that is meant to be taken entirely 100% seriously as one of the great dramas of all time.
Hero/Protagonist; Kills 1000 henchmen. Arrives at villain. "If I killed you I'd be just like you." *walks away*, except worse because there is not even that terrible excuse, there is nothing at all. "I guess I'll let you go, why not." The cope is she remembered that Joel existed (lmao) and that he wouldn't want her to do this (giga double 100x lmao, if you remember who Joel is) based on nothing nor does she articulate this.
Truly one of the tales of all time.

I keep seeing this interpretation and i dont get it. She didnt let her live because Joel would want her to. The flashback of Joel when shes drowning Abby is simply teasing the full conversation they have where they make up after years of her resenting him. the whole point of that flashback is to show that she is feeling guilt about treating him like shit for years and then losing him literally the morning after that conversation. She realized at that point that shes not angry with Abby, she's angry with herself.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Choices make sense in role playing games. TLOU isnt a role playing game. You dont have to have no name characters. Shepard in Mass Effect made choices and it made sense.

TLOU2 is Neil's story. Joel's choice to save Ellie and doom humanity was Neil's choice. Not yours. he wanted to have you experience that choice and thanks to a 15 hour journey was able to make both Ellie and Joel likeable enough so that you would be onboard with that selfish choice. He wasnt able to pull it off with Abby.

My only critique on TLOU2 was that it was too long. 30 hours is CRAZY! If the game was 20-25 hours it would have darn near been a perfect game.
 

sncvsrtoip

Member
They knew the story wasn't going to end with TLOU2. So giving a choice wouldn't have been good going forward. I love this programmer saying this though. This stuff should be happening more often!!!
wouldnt matter, in lou3 we would just found Elie canon choice
 

sncvsrtoip

Member
Choices make sense in role playing games. TLOU isnt a role playing game. You dont have to have no name characters. Shepard in Mass Effect made choices and it made sense.

TLOU2 is Neil's story. Joel's choice to save Ellie and doom humanity was Neil's choice. Not yours. he wanted to have you experience that choice and thanks to a 15 hour journey was able to make both Ellie and Joel likeable enough so that you would be onboard with that selfish choice. He wasnt able to pull it off with Abby.
He was albe with me as I wouldnt make different one ;d Tough many would made different and in the end would be interesting to know the stats. Where is this written rule with golden letters that only rpg game can have choices ;d Im generaly no big supporter of choices as I want to see what narrators bring but in this case it would improve ending reception.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
When you are doing an artistic endeavour you should'nt consider too much the feedback from normies, otherwise you risk end up with a very standard uninteresting product.

I am glad they did not care about potential backlash and decided to go with their initial ideas

1000% AGREE! Be bold and make something interesting. Make something people talk about for years!!!
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
He was albe with me as I wouldnt make different one ;d Tough many would made different and in the end would be interesting to know the stats. Where is this written rule with golden letters that only rpg game can have choices ;d Im generaly no big supporter of choices as I want to see what narrators bring but in this case it would improve ending reception.
Well then how would you expect Neil to write TLOU3? Which ending should he choose as cannon? Or do you think he should write two stories? What if he wants to bring Abby back in TLOu3?

Thats why only RPGs can have choices. Otherwise it feels vapid and pointless.
 
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