- Joined
- May 19, 2018
I've spent the past thirty or so minutes pondering on what I'd do to make this game better if I'd been handed the reins instead of Mr. Shadow the Edgehog, and here's what I came up with.
You could keep the most basic outline of the premise of the game- Joel is killed by Abby, and Ellie hunts her down for revenge- and still have it work. So we're keeping that. What we're not keeping is the bits of playing as Abby. Fucking nobody likes her and she's an irredeemable cunt. She's the villain of this story. Her death is the goal here.
I ended up writing a lot more than I initially thought I would so I spoilered it, please forgive me if it's autistic lmao
TL;DR- Ellie and Jesse go on Happy Funtime Killing Abby Adventures, but Ellie soon learns that revenge still leaves you feeling hollow after it all. But she and Jesse do become bros and it ends on a melancholy but optimistic note, so it's not a completely fucking depressing game, yay!
You could keep the most basic outline of the premise of the game- Joel is killed by Abby, and Ellie hunts her down for revenge- and still have it work. So we're keeping that. What we're not keeping is the bits of playing as Abby. Fucking nobody likes her and she's an irredeemable cunt. She's the villain of this story. Her death is the goal here.
I ended up writing a lot more than I initially thought I would so I spoilered it, please forgive me if it's autistic lmao
The first third of the game is centered around Jackson and follows Ellie and Joel living their lives. They live in a home like a normal father and daughter would and life is... almost normal, in a way. They cook meals and have a vegetable garden and play the guitar and go to church. Joel's got a job as a carpenter and repairman, and he's taken on an apprentice by the name of Jesse who really looks up to him. Ellie does patrols and goes out hunting and is a teacher's assistant or some shit on the side. Ellie's been kinda sorta seeing a girl named Dina on the side, which kinda sorta chaps Jesse's ass as Dina is his ex-girlfriend and he and Ellie are supposed to be buddies. Dina's a bit flighty and shallow, but she's fun and Ellie just wants to be a dumb teenager. Life is as normal as it can be in this hellish world, and it's all that Joel and Ellie could have asked for.
One night Tommy comes over for dinner and tells Joel and Ellie that he's gotten some rather concerning reports from scouts that another group seems to be dipping further and further into territory that's been decidedly Jackson's. It's the Seraphites, a rabidly fundamentalist group that's grown in prominence in the west. These guys are gonna be the red herring villains for the first third. Because he knows how tough the both of them are and their good tracking abilities, he wants the two of them to tail the group and figure out what they're up to. Along the way they have some of the good ol' Ellie and Joel banter that we all know and love and eventually the two end up crossing paths with Abby and company, who are from an WLF (whatever the fuck its name is) outpost a bit further north of Jackson and have similar goals of figuring out what exactly the Seraphites are up to. They're a paramilitary group and are somewhat ruthless in attaining their goals. At first they're useful allies, and Ellie and Abby bond a teeny bit and become friends, kind of. They get to talking over the next few missions, and Ellie accidentally slips up and reveals just a bit too much of her and Joel's backstory which tips Abby off to their real identities. One night, Abby wakes the two of them up and claims that they need to see something. Once they're away from camp, she manages to subdue Ellie and kills Joel (I dunno how, I'm not great at writing action-y scenes rip but he won't go down without a fight because FUCK Joel having such an undignified death) and talks about how this is for her father, the fireflies, Marlene, yadda yadda. It's clear that something's not right upstairs with how much she relishes in killing Joel. Ellie watches the only true family that she's ever known die before her eyes. After she's done, she leaves Ellie tied up for the infected. Ellie eventually manages to work her way out of her binds and rushes back to the camp to slit Abby's throat in revenge, but realizes that they've already cleared out by the time she got free. Heartbroken, she gears up to take Joel's body back to Jackson. This is the end of part one. To keep the plot of the game a secret, all footage for trailers and such would be from this part.
One night Tommy comes over for dinner and tells Joel and Ellie that he's gotten some rather concerning reports from scouts that another group seems to be dipping further and further into territory that's been decidedly Jackson's. It's the Seraphites, a rabidly fundamentalist group that's grown in prominence in the west. These guys are gonna be the red herring villains for the first third. Because he knows how tough the both of them are and their good tracking abilities, he wants the two of them to tail the group and figure out what they're up to. Along the way they have some of the good ol' Ellie and Joel banter that we all know and love and eventually the two end up crossing paths with Abby and company, who are from an WLF (whatever the fuck its name is) outpost a bit further north of Jackson and have similar goals of figuring out what exactly the Seraphites are up to. They're a paramilitary group and are somewhat ruthless in attaining their goals. At first they're useful allies, and Ellie and Abby bond a teeny bit and become friends, kind of. They get to talking over the next few missions, and Ellie accidentally slips up and reveals just a bit too much of her and Joel's backstory which tips Abby off to their real identities. One night, Abby wakes the two of them up and claims that they need to see something. Once they're away from camp, she manages to subdue Ellie and kills Joel (I dunno how, I'm not great at writing action-y scenes rip but he won't go down without a fight because FUCK Joel having such an undignified death) and talks about how this is for her father, the fireflies, Marlene, yadda yadda. It's clear that something's not right upstairs with how much she relishes in killing Joel. Ellie watches the only true family that she's ever known die before her eyes. After she's done, she leaves Ellie tied up for the infected. Ellie eventually manages to work her way out of her binds and rushes back to the camp to slit Abby's throat in revenge, but realizes that they've already cleared out by the time she got free. Heartbroken, she gears up to take Joel's body back to Jackson. This is the end of part one. To keep the plot of the game a secret, all footage for trailers and such would be from this part.
There's a small timeskip of a week or two and then we're back in Jackson. Joel's been buried, Ellie's recovered from her physical injuries, and now she's stewing in rage. She remembers Abby mentioning that she was actually from Seattle and had only been temporarily stationed at the outpost, and now she's got a plan to make Abby pay. The only problem is is that nobody wants her to go through with it. She asks Tommy for permission to leave and he tells her that while he wants revenge as much as she does, it's suicide and he can't lose another loved one so soon after Joel. Dina flat out tells her that she's not going, so now Ellie's mad, traumatized, and completely alone. She decides to throw on her gear and try to get to Seattle all on her lonesome and make Abby feel every bit of pain that Joel did. She's not out for more than an hour before someone sneaks up on her-
And it's Jesse.
He tells her that despite being pissed off about Dina, there was no way that he'd let her do this on her own and get herself killed. Not to mention that he also cared about Joel and wants revenge. So the two of them set off, strained relationship and all, to find Abby and bash her skull in. Throughout the game the two end up warming up to each other again and become rather close, like best friends forged in fire. Or if Ellie is actually bi in this game, maybe he could be a love interest. Either one works, but for now let's just say they end up becoming best friends. Jesse would be like this game's Ellie- a more lighthearted character that both the protagonist and the player end up growing fond of, who slowly brings the jaded and traumatized protagonist out of their shell. He comforts her after she wakes up from nightmares, seeing Joel's beaten and bloody face flash through her dreams. He's snarky and witty and good at teamwork, with funny stories to tell along the way. He'd even eventually learn about her immunity. Throughout the second and third parts the duo could run into Seraphites and WLF or other groups of survivors and have little arc villains and side characters or whatever, kind of like the first game. Though I'd definitely have Ellie and Jesse end up stumbling across the burnt ruins of a Seraphite encampment not long after they leave Jackson. This is the remains of the Seraphite encampment that Tommy was concerned about, and the two of them realize with a start that everyone in the camp- man, woman, and child alike- was butchered by the WLF, cementing them as the villains of this game.
And it's Jesse.
He tells her that despite being pissed off about Dina, there was no way that he'd let her do this on her own and get herself killed. Not to mention that he also cared about Joel and wants revenge. So the two of them set off, strained relationship and all, to find Abby and bash her skull in. Throughout the game the two end up warming up to each other again and become rather close, like best friends forged in fire. Or if Ellie is actually bi in this game, maybe he could be a love interest. Either one works, but for now let's just say they end up becoming best friends. Jesse would be like this game's Ellie- a more lighthearted character that both the protagonist and the player end up growing fond of, who slowly brings the jaded and traumatized protagonist out of their shell. He comforts her after she wakes up from nightmares, seeing Joel's beaten and bloody face flash through her dreams. He's snarky and witty and good at teamwork, with funny stories to tell along the way. He'd even eventually learn about her immunity. Throughout the second and third parts the duo could run into Seraphites and WLF or other groups of survivors and have little arc villains and side characters or whatever, kind of like the first game. Though I'd definitely have Ellie and Jesse end up stumbling across the burnt ruins of a Seraphite encampment not long after they leave Jackson. This is the remains of the Seraphite encampment that Tommy was concerned about, and the two of them realize with a start that everyone in the camp- man, woman, and child alike- was butchered by the WLF, cementing them as the villains of this game.
Finally, though, we get to the final part. In this, the duo make it to Seattle and end up killing a definitely not small number of WLF members. At one point, Jesse and Ellie are separated and Ellie runs off to find Abby. Eventually she finds her, attempting to leave town on a boat in Elliott Bay. Ellie calls her a coward, and taunts Abby until she finally snaps and the fight begins on the shore. It'd be a certainly tough fight since Abby has the advantage of brute strength over Ellie's speed and agility, but eventually you, playing as Ellie, manage to get the upper hand and kill Abby. Exhausted, she sinks to her knees while the waves lap around her thighs, waiting for the wave of catharsis to wash over her.
But it never does. All she feels is hollow. This wasn't a victory, not really. Abby is dead, but it won't bring back Joel. Nothing will bring back Joel. And now all she has to show for it is the blood of countless people on her hands. Someone wades out next to her and sets his hand on her shoulder. It's Jesse. He sees Abby's corpse floating in the water and realizes what's happened and tells her that they should go. Ellie nods, quietly, and gets up. As they stumble through the now silent WLF compound, they hear crying and realize that there's still someone in the compound. It's a child- a toddler, in fact. The boy must've been a child of one of the WLF members. Someone who had either died there or had fled. With so much blood on their hands, so much responsibility for so many deaths, neither of them can bring themselves to be responsible for one more. So Jesse scoops him up and holds out his hand for Ellie to take, saying "Let's go home." There's a pause, and then she does. The camera focuses on the three of them for a moment, this little family that's awkward and unconventional but still a family (not too unlike Joel and Ellie, in fact), and then it cuts to black and the first game's theme starts playing. Even though the end is melancholy, there's a note of hope for the future- that these two will get this right. That even though the world's a shitty place, it's not so bad as long as you have someone you love. Someone you would die for, someone you would kill for. Someone you consider family.
But it never does. All she feels is hollow. This wasn't a victory, not really. Abby is dead, but it won't bring back Joel. Nothing will bring back Joel. And now all she has to show for it is the blood of countless people on her hands. Someone wades out next to her and sets his hand on her shoulder. It's Jesse. He sees Abby's corpse floating in the water and realizes what's happened and tells her that they should go. Ellie nods, quietly, and gets up. As they stumble through the now silent WLF compound, they hear crying and realize that there's still someone in the compound. It's a child- a toddler, in fact. The boy must've been a child of one of the WLF members. Someone who had either died there or had fled. With so much blood on their hands, so much responsibility for so many deaths, neither of them can bring themselves to be responsible for one more. So Jesse scoops him up and holds out his hand for Ellie to take, saying "Let's go home." There's a pause, and then she does. The camera focuses on the three of them for a moment, this little family that's awkward and unconventional but still a family (not too unlike Joel and Ellie, in fact), and then it cuts to black and the first game's theme starts playing. Even though the end is melancholy, there's a note of hope for the future- that these two will get this right. That even though the world's a shitty place, it's not so bad as long as you have someone you love. Someone you would die for, someone you would kill for. Someone you consider family.
TL;DR- Ellie and Jesse go on Happy Funtime Killing Abby Adventures, but Ellie soon learns that revenge still leaves you feeling hollow after it all. But she and Jesse do become bros and it ends on a melancholy but optimistic note, so it's not a completely fucking depressing game, yay!
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