I found myself playing this game by chance, and ended up finishing it in two days. Then I got online, and I have to admit that I have been blown away by all the hate towards Joel. To me, people who think Joel was the bad guy in the end really did not understand the game. The world in this game is completely different from the world we all live in right now. The standards are completely different. Yes, Joel killed people, but it is made abundantly clear that everyone else is doing that too! The Fireflies left a bad taste in my mouth through the entire game. I found Marlene sketchy from the very beginning. The conflict between The Fireflies and the government is clear, and I honestly think that the Fireflies would have simply used the cure as a means to power. They might have used it as leverage against the government, who knows! Even if most of the Fireflies had good intentions, a cure for all of humanity is a lot of power for one organization to wield. The Fireflies are not necessarily the angelic good guys that so many people seem to think they are. And the game gives many hints that they are a sketchy group of people. To me, the fact that they were willing to remove a 14 year old girls brain, without her permission, for a tiny chance at finding a cure just shows how far they had fallen from their humanity. They were willing to murder a young girl just for the slight chance of saving a world that had already gone to hell. A cure would have only made things messier. Also, the fact that they refused to simply let Joel speak to Ellie speaks volumes to me, as it majorly hints to the fact that they were killing Ellie without her permission and knew that if they let Joel talk with her, their entire plan would be shot to hell. They adamantly claim to be the good guys, but their actions prove that they are just as flawed and untrustworthy as all the other characters. And as for Joel's decision in the end, lying to Ellie is what any parent would do. This 14 year old girl li