The ending wasn't really a downer, it was bittersweet though. Joel didn't really become a villain either, I found it to be really grey storytelling. Something Bioware always strives to achieve but miserably fails at each game. Issues always end up being depicted as black and ehite. TLoU's ending was really poignant and done really well I thought. Joel had to make a difficult choice, and went for the selfish option that came from a place of love. He either had to make the right choice for the wrong reasons, or the "wrong" choice for the "right" reasons. Never has Bioware come close to writing something so nuanced.
i disagree on that. Legion's Loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2 comes to mind as a standout example. As does Mordin's and Samara's in the same game. Well, not Samara's as much but when talking with her and learning about her code and her personal ethics, we see the dilemna there.
I would also argue the ethical and practical ramifications of both the Tuchanka and Rannoch storylines in Mass Effect 3 as that.
My problem with the Last of Us in the end was more than just it's ending to be fair, I thought the game overall was quite boring and predictable, but regarding the issue at hand, Joel did the selfish choice, but throughout the game Joel is not redeemable as a person. Even when Ellie takes care of him he still has that barrier up above him, and what makes it creepier is how Joel seems to nearly project Ellie in place of his dead daughter...which did not sit well with me.
I get how it's supposed to be emotional, and that finding humanity in inhumane territory is a good thing. It simply didn't resonate in the end because the flipside of this, while inhumane, was not only piratical, but really logical.
Then again I tend to think logically when it comes to the grand scheme of things. This may be why I had no problem with Mass Effect 3 and it's own ending on a whole.
And one thing that is different between say Joel and Shepard, Shepard's decisions are flawed in of themselves because you don't know what outcome will come up. Choices made in 1 and 2 influence the consequences of three heavily in that regard, including the survival of squadmates, the macro-politics surrounding your situation, and even the outcomes of some of your choices being affected or influenced by how you have behaved. Shepard is not a superhero either, you see most of his choices in that line of gray morality.
In The Last of Us, it i forced upon you through cutscenes moreso than actual choice. We are being told the story, which does make it smoother I grant you that, but were passive in the interaction of it. The main meat of the game, the combat and cinematic running, is very disconnected at times because of it's own narrative too. It always bothered me to see Joel brutally kill a guy attacking them, only moments later to have a conversation about how he is morally justified as a good person.
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