How would you change the story?

[Litwick]

For what it's worth, I think the writers at Naughty Dog did an excellent job. I can't think of a more compelling direction to have taken the series. Forcing Joel to face repercussions for the atrocities he committed in the first game, and in doing so, forcing the player to self reflect as well was a stroke of brilliance. Very few studios would ever risk alienating huge swaths of their audience, but Naughty Dog were willing to put everything on the line to stay true to their vision. And for that they deserve applause.

My question is, how would you have changed the story?

[Stoibs]

I wouldn't, I loved it more that TLoU1.

If anything I might have gotten rid of some of the false fade to black sequences once you reach the farm and replaced them with some more organic cuts or wipes... first time playing that I counted so many instances where I thought the credits were about to roll

[Litwick]

Originally posted by Stoibs:

I wouldn't, I loved it more that TLoU1.

If anything I might have gotten rid of some of the false fade to black sequences once you reach the farm and replaced them with some more organic cuts or wipes... first time playing that I counted so many instances where I thought the credits were about to roll :lunar2019crylaughingpig:

Agreed! Every time I read people's opinions on "what should've happened" it's always ultra clichéd slop. What happened to Joel and Ellie by the end of this game felt so unforgivingly authentic to the world they introduced us to in the first one.

I think they would've retroactively done the original story a disservice by telling us everyone had a happy ending. Joel was not the main character. He was just a man, like anyone else, and met his demise the same way. Even though I sympathized with Abby, it still made me sick to my stomach. I still cared about Joel. And I grew to care for Abby too. And that's what the story was really about. Empathy and forgiveness.

[VDRSK]

Abby kills Ellie in the final struggle.

Make the death very quick and unforeseeable; One second Ellie is winning then Abby quickly gets the upper hand then snaps her neck. The ear ringing sound from Joel's death plays, the camera zooms in on Ellies eyes while you see Abby leaving in the background meanwhile flashes of Joel are intermittent, it does this for a while while the ringing fades till you only hear the crashing and swashing of waves, rolls credits with no music just the continued sound of waves.

That being said how the death is shown or played out can be altered, but Abby killing Ellie would have made it an untouchable narrative experience for me.

[Coldflame]

not sure itd be better or not but an interesting spin imo wouldve been:

-don't market joel or ellie and exclude ellie from boxart/etc
-make abby the pov character from the start, have a couple hours of game getting to know/like her before finding out about her revenge mission and gradually make it clearer who she's hunting before revealing joel, then the player is in the driver's seat killing him
-game flips to ellie then later back to abby as it currently does

[Rain]

I would keep Joel alive.

[Razin_Shah]

I would make it so Joel is more regretful and desperate in his final moments. Begging Abby not to hurt Ellie and saying it's all his fault.

[Litwick]

Originally posted by VDRSK:

Abby kills Ellie in the final struggle.

Make the death very quick and unforeseeable; One second Ellie is winning then Abby quickly gets the upper hand then snaps her neck. The ear ringing sound from Joel's death plays, the camera zooms in on Ellies eyes while you see Abby leaving in the background meanwhile flashes of Joel are intermittent, it does this for a while while the ringing fades till you only hear the crashing and swashing of waves, rolls credits with no music just the continued sound of waves.

That being said how the death is shown or played out can be altered, but Abby killing Ellie would have made it an untouchable narrative experience for me.

Not bad! I would've been happy with this ending as well. I was a tad bit disappointed that Ellie survived on my first playthrough. I was totally rooting for Abby by that point. In retrospect, I think Ellie living with the weight of her decisions was a far crueler punishment than simply killing her there on the beach. And it's a fate she honestly deserved after abandoning Dina and massacring as many people as she did.

[episoder]

Originally posted by Stoibs:

I wouldn't, I loved it more that TLoU1.

If anything I might have gotten rid of some of the false fade to black sequences once you reach the farm and replaced them with some more organic cuts or wipes... first time playing that I counted so many instances where I thought the credits were about to roll :lunar2019crylaughingpig:

interesting take. yes... they coulda stopped at the happy lil farm life. but... we never woulda gotten santa barbara, which is a beatiful level, and it keeps the plot rolling into part 3 or whatever there is.

[VDRSK]

Originally posted by Litwick:

Not bad! I would've been happy with this ending as well. I was a tad bit disappointed that Ellie survived on my first playthrough. I was totally rooting for Abby by that point. In retrospect, I think Ellie living with the weight of her decisions was a far crueler punishment than simply killing her there on the beach. And it's a fate she honestly deserved after abandoning Dina and massacring as many people as she did.

I never really rooted for either, I was almost entirely separating myself from what is happening, they both have very reasonable motivations for what they have done. However I admit when Abby started choking Ellie I verbally mumbled, "come on Ellie do something." because despite me wanting her to die in my ending, I don't actually want to see her die, hence why I think that ending would be fantastic.

Although since that comment I didn't think of Tommy, Who pushed her into tracking down Abby, if Ellie died, Tommy would be almost certainly emotionally obliterated knowing he sent for all intents and purposes Joel's daughter to her death.

[bokke_commando]

I would change the synagogue section with Dina and Ellie. I would have had Dina explaining how she's disappointed in her people for the genocide they committed against the people of Gaza, she would then go on to explain that maybe the infected are not so bad, because at least they don't pretend to not be monsters. Other than that I would leave it the same.

[Razin_Shah]

Originally posted by bokke_commando:

I would change the synagogue section with Dina and Ellie. I would have had Dina explaining how she's disappointed in her people for the genocide they committed against the people of Gaza, she would then go on to explain that maybe the infected are not so bad, because at least they don't pretend to not be monsters. Other than that I would leave it the same.

this. but unironically.

[bokke_commando]

Originally posted by Razin_Shah:

Originally posted by bokke_commando:

I would change the synagogue section with Dina and Ellie. I would have had Dina explaining how she's disappointed in her people for the genocide they committed against the people of Gaza, she would then go on to explain that maybe the infected are not so bad, because at least they don't pretend to not be monsters. Other than that I would leave it the same.

this. but unironically.

You think I'm trolling?

[Conker]

Originally posted by Litwick:

For what it's worth, I think the writers at Naughty Dog did an excellent job. I can't think of a more compelling direction to have taken the series. Forcing Joel to face repercussions for the atrocities he committed in the first game, and in doing so, forcing the player to self reflect as well was a stroke of brilliance. Very few studios would ever risk alienating huge swaths of their audience, but Naughty Dog were willing to put everything on the line to stay true to their vision. And for that they deserve applause.

My question is, how would you have changed the story?

I would have made a continuation of the first game instead, meaning the continuing adventures of Joel and Ellie as they head out together to reach a safe place or continue to look for a cure or something, rather than killing one of them right away and have the other one go off the rails and turn into a completely different person by the end of the game.

Basically like the Uncharted games, the same cast and roster of characters, introduce a few new ones to tag along each new game, i'm not interested in the Game of Thrones type of direction they have gone with where `no one is safe, anyone can die at any moment!` i don't find any of that shocking i find it tired. Naughty Dog seems to really want you to take them seriously and see them as making important artistic works rather than just fun video games. There are a few people working in the games medium that you can tell would rather be making movies, Quantic Dream is another studio that i think would be happier if they were making live action movies instead of games.

[Stoibs]

Originally posted by episoder:

Originally posted by Stoibs:

I wouldn't, I loved it more that TLoU1.

If anything I might have gotten rid of some of the false fade to black sequences once you reach the farm and replaced them with some more organic cuts or wipes... first time playing that I counted so many instances where I thought the credits were about to roll

interesting take. yes... they coulda stopped at the happy lil farm life. but... we never woulda gotten santa barbara, which is a beatiful level, and it keeps the plot rolling into part 3 or whatever there is.

Oh I didn't mean to end it there, it's just that all the editing and camera fades there made it look like it was going to be the end.

It was like the ending to Lord of the Rings: Return of the King all over again with the constant fake-outs!