Just finished my TLOU: RM, which is my second playthrough. Before this the last time I played was at PS3 release.
Some things felt different than they did last time. Certain segments that felt longer last time, for whatever reason, felt shorter this time. I think the tension of not knowing makes things feel longer, apparently.
While the game looks generally good, I noticed some oddness here and there, and the occasional "that thing looks like it's moving way too fast" graphical oddity. I also noticed the game liked to frequently prompt me with "hold X to equip over current slot" message throughout the game, even when no weapon is around to pick up. It just randomly prompts me with it.
Anyway, what I was left thinking about, as with the first time I finished the game, was how it ended.Last time, I was focused mostly on Joel's lie and what Ellie's reaction to it meant, as well as the morality of what Joel did at Firefly HQ (in my opinion he did what any parent would do, particularly in a brutal postapocalyptic setting, but this has already been discussed to death and needn't be any further). I accepted initially that Ellie was quite troubled and conflicted about what Joel did and that he lied, but without more information I couldn't bring that into clearer focus. At a developer conference later on, last year, Druckmann basically spelled out what it all meant, that Ellie's reaction to Joel's lie wasn't at all complicit, and was more defiant -- "I realize I can't stay with you". I accepted that when he said it, but having played the entire game freshly now I just find myself with yet more questions. Something just doesn't feel complete here.
By the later acts of the game, Ellie is utterly attached to Joel. That's what the writing tells us again and again. When Henry abandons Joel, Ellie jumps back down "We stick together". She has a very troubled reaction to the thought of Joel leaving her with Tommy, later on, and, of course, she quite famously goes to extreme lengths to care for Joel from the moment he is injured. When she is surviving clicker attacks along with David, and still not quite sure what David's all about, she almost becomes Joel -- It's clear by this how much she looks up to him. She keeps saying to David things that Joel has said -- For example, When David asks "are you okay?" She says "You don't have to worry about me", which is precisely what Joel said to Ellie earlier on.
So why is it, then, that she seems to sort of lack perspective or empathy on this whole matter, all of the sudden, when it comes to Joel's lie? She knows he's lying, I think that's clear, but what exactly does she think happened? If her estimation of how events with the Fireflies played out is roughly accurate, which seems to be the case by Druckmann's keynote, then what is it she expects Joel to have done? She stuck with him no matter what, she went to the end of the world to save him. Why would she not be more understanding, then, when Joel does the same for her?
Not long before getting to Firefly HQ, Joel says to Ellie "I'm not leaving without you". Did she think he simply... would?
I stick with my initial impression of the ending
where Ellie knows it's a lie, but the "okay" means that she will will go along with him. That the line "Tell me everything you said about the Fireflies is true", was actually asking something else. It just make more sense to me, especially when she prefaces it with what she went through with Riley. As a result of both her experiences, she has survivors guilt and knows that Joel took her away from the Fireflies -- and whatever the reason for it was, she trusts his answer to mean that it was the right thing.
But even then, that's not to say that their relationship is going to continue as usual. Things are a lot more complex now, and we can only imagine what it will mean for the future.
I like that interpretation better because the gut-punch comes more from the viewer who knows exactly what Joel did.
Beauty of it all is that Druckmann said himself that there's no real way to interpret the ending.
But even then, that's not to say that their relationship is going to continue as usual. Things are a lot more complex now, and we can only imagine what it will mean for the future.
I like that interpretation better because the gut-punch comes more from the viewer who knows exactly what Joel did.
Beauty of it all is that Druckmann said himself that there's no real way to interpret the ending.
