I just checked my account purely to say this: A vaccine and a cure are quite two different things, in The Last of Us its a vaccine, not a cure and Ill explain, a vaccine would prevent infection by building an immunity against it, its basically a more docile infection without the whole turning into a crazy plant person and the body prepares against it, creating an immunity so if you were to be bitten by infected you wouldnt turn, meaning the infection couldnt spread any more.
However a cure is much different, a cure would imply you could stop or reverse the changes the infection caused. This is quite an impossible task seeing the way the infection works, it corrupts the brain and the body with spores at a certain stage, the Clicker stage and past that would be a area none could return from bar a medical miracle. Although those stages couldnt work, if you were to create a cure it would be able to work if the person was only recently infected but has yet to turn or perhaps even at Stage one: the Runner seeing as theyre not too far gone but the chances of reversing stage one is slim, all it could do is prevent one from turning.
The thing attempted in The Last of Us is not a cure, but a vaccine. Such a thing is laughable though, a vaccine at this stage? After 20 years of the infection spreading and the Fireflies believe that would even do anything? A cure is not possible but a vaccine is viable. The usage of such would be heavily limited and basically useless so long after the outbreak, perhaps it could have turned the tide if it was created soon after the outbreak of the infection but at that point in time it wouldnt do that much. How in hell would you even supply the vaccine anyway? The world has long gone to hell, with the remaining pockets of humanity (in game WHO article says 60%+ are either dead or infected at the time of publishing) scattered far and wide across the world, it would be quite the achievement to even supply it to residents in the USA with such a lack of resources and everyone too busy surviving, its purely a lost cause but the Fireflies have sacrificed too much to leave it at that and continue on attempting to create a vaccine at all costs fearing all the sacrifice would be in vain.
I dare to attack many of you dudes criticism of the morals of Joel: Since when have morals helped you survive? Heres one in game example: After you get the car from Bill you drive for quite the time until you and Ellie see a person showing injury, assuming you are moral you would help the poor man, wouldnt you? How kind of you! Until it reveals how its actually a trap used by bandits to kill people so they themselves can survive. In a time like this morality goes flying out the window and any attempt to retain it ends up in your death, to put it simply. Joel understood this, he changed from normal law-abiding citizen to a survivor willing to do anything to live and thats why he survived 20 years after the outbreak.
Ellie shows signs of a mental condition named survivors guilt through-out the game and especially at the end when she reveals Rileys (her friend) death, she feels guilt for multiple people, blaming herself for the deaths of Tess, Sam and Riley (all infected, Ellies fear when asked by Sam is not the infected but to be alone) even though it isnt actually her fault shes immune and they werent. Through-out the game she goes on about how it all cant be for nothing and does show signs of actually wanting to live such as the part before they drowns telling Joel after all this you can teach me how to swim implying she and Joel (he also assumes it, he tells her after all this Ill teach you how to play guitar but is met with silence, either this is because of her survivors guilt or because of the encounter with David as this level begins right after Davids death at the hands of Ellie) think its just going to be a blood sample and not surgery while shes having conflicting emotions over what is the correct choice due to the mental condition, in a child survivors guilt is especially difficult to deal with obviously.
In the end Joel saves Ellie from forced surgery (explained in a second) by having to kill the main surgeon as he threatened Joel by either stabbing him with the surgeons knife or you can choose to just shoot him if you want, the other two are optional but they are busy cowering, calling Joel an animal and being fearful for their lives. Joel escapes to the elevator carrying Ellie by running past multiple Fireflies and arrives in the hospitals underground garage only to be greeted by a gun-pointing Marlene who goes on about what if scenarios regarding Ellie but then says ITS WHAT SHE WOULD WANT showing Ellie didnt actually give permission, its not wants but would want. You finder a few recorders by Marlene explaining however that her permission asked by the surgeons, Marlene or Ellies refusal wouldnt achieve squat, they were mere formalities, they would go ahead with the surgery even if Marlene or Ellie refused.
Joel then shoots Marlene after she started to lower her weapon, Marlene begging for her life causes Joel to hesitate until he says how she would just come after us as in she wouldnt stop at getting Ellie back to attempt a vaccine, he then shoots her in the head, takes the car and heads toward Tommys camp, her death meant no Firefly pursuers Ellie was finally safe. Do note Joel does indeed through-out the game soften to Ellie from where he only wants to get rid of her and get his payment to willing to kill and die for her, likening her to his dead daughter.
On the outskirts of Tommys camp Ellie in another final burst of survivors guilt, confronts Joel about the Fireflies, about him lying saying how the Fireflies failed to provide a vaccine via testing on various other immune people but Joel lies again to console her, with Ellie seeing right through it.
This action would cause the removal of most, if not all of the weight of survivors guilt from Ellie seeing as they can put some if not all of the blame on Joel.
This is the end of Joel and Ellies story, them living out their lives in the relative safety of Tommys camp.
At this point all mankind can do is survive like they have did before, rebuild society while hunting down the infected, eventually they all become the Spore Cadavers so a possibility is to wait it out then track the cadavers down and burn them. Where bullets fail, fire doesnt. Fire is effective against the infected in general, even most so than bullets.
So basically Joel is right, surviving, saving Ellie and all that. A vaccine is pretty much as useless as a vaccine can be, especially seeing as you would have to kill an immune person to attempt the creation of a vaccine with no promise it would work. Even if a vaccine worked the Infected do still exist, they just cant spread it to those immune but they still are very much a threat. Supplying the vaccine to those that require it is a nigh-impossible task in that type of world so damaged. Everyone in the game is simply surviving, nor good or evil. When society falls so does morality.
A sequel is a possibility but it wont contain Joel and Ellie since their story is already told in this game sadly. Though I personally would love to see some form of closure to the story of Ellie and Joel. At the very least, that is what I ask of Naughty Dog. I assume that is what a lot of people would want as well. The ending was amazing but closure is important. Particularly if they could mabye do like an after math DLC, possiblly looking more at the bonding between the two characters. Mabye a DLC where it continues right after the end with them going to Tommy's. Perhaps you take part in teaching Ellie how to swim or play guatar or something like that. You know further character development so then there would be some kind of closure. Anyway, enough of me!
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