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    The Last of Us

    Game » consists of 11 releases. Released Jun 14, 2013

    Joel and Ellie must survive in a post-apocalyptic world where a deadly parasitic fungus infects people's brains in this PS3 exclusive third-person action-adventure game from Naughty Dog.

    A huge plot hole I just noticed. (Spoilers, obviously.)

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    Video_Game_King

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    Why is Joel dragging Ellie across the country as the cure in the first place? I know that sounds like an obvious question to answer, but hear me out: none of the animals we see in the game ever appear to be infected. The horses they ride are fine, the rabbits and deer Ellie hunts are fine, and the herd of giraffes (the fuck are giraffes doing in Utah?) are fine. We never even hear about infected animals; there aren't even any infected dogs to fight. And it's been twenty years since the outbreak. That's more than enough time for a house cat or whatever to turn.

    What's making them immune, and why haven't the Fireflies tried developing a cure from the animals? That's how vaccines are developed in the real world, aren't they? (OK, not entirely comparable, but comparable enough.) If they did, why isn't this addressed in plot?

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    ViciousBearMauling

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    Maybe they've tried already with no luck.

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    pr1mus

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    #3  Edited By pr1mus

    From what i read about real cordyceps is that each variety only affect one specific animal/insect family. Which would also make research in a cure for one variety useless or at least limited in efficiency in curing other varieties.

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    Video_Game_King

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    Maybe they've tried already with no luck.

    But the game doesn't address that issue, unless there's a medical chart toward the end with an X-ray of a fish with the word "INCONCLUSIVE" stamped on it.

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    ll_Exile_ll

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    Yeah, as @pr1mus said animals not being affected by the infection doesn't necessarily mean they're "immune" in the same way Ellie is, and in fact it's quite likely this species of cordyceps specifically targets humans (and close relations like monkeys).

    As for your question about the giraffes in Utah, at the beginning of that level there is a billboard advertisement for a zoo which shows a picture of a giraffe.

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    Video_Game_King

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    As for your question about the giraffes in Utah, at the beginning of that level there is a billboard advertisement for a zoo which shows a picture of a giraffe.

    *crosses arms angrily* *huffs out the next sentence* I still think it's stupid.

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    Fredchuckdave

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    pyromagnestir

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    #8  Edited By pyromagnestir

    @ll_exile_ll said:

    As for your question about the giraffes in Utah, at the beginning of that level there is a billboard advertisement for a zoo which shows a picture of a giraffe.

    *crosses arms angrily* *huffs out the next sentence* I still think it's stupid.

    Well you're wrong!

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    Video_Game_King

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    Fredchuckdave

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    Obviously the main thing you should be thinking about is how much of a psychopath Ellie is (which doesn't actually weaken the plot, by the by; it just makes it more interesting).

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    FancySoapsMan

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    The real issue with the story is, why would a team of scientists choose to remove the brain of the only living person who's resisted the virus, instead of trying to study her without killing her first?

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    Video_Game_King

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    @fancysoapsman:

    To be fair, the game slowly gets worse once the story hits winter.

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    Oscar__Explosion

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    #13  Edited By Oscar__Explosion

    @fancysoapsman: wasn't the explanation that the Firefly's needed to remove the infected part of her brain in order to make the possible vaccine and that doing so would have happen to kill her?

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    ll_Exile_ll

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    The real issue with the story is, why would a team of scientists choose to remove the brain of the only living person who's resisted the virus, instead of trying to study her without killing her first?

    The audio logs and journal entries you can find at the hospital make it pretty clear Ellie isn't the first immune individual they've discovered, so it stands to reason they've previously exhausted all of the less drastic options with no results.

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    Hunter5024

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    Weren't the scientists at the university working on monkeys for this purpose or something?

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    Video_Game_King

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    Weren't the scientists at the university working on monkeys for this purpose or something?

    Where are my zombie monkeys!?

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    Hunter5024

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    #17  Edited By Hunter5024

    @video_game_king said:

    @hunter5024 said:

    Weren't the scientists at the university working on monkeys for this purpose or something?

    Where are my zombie monkeys!?

    Mushroom Monkeys sir.

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    Corevi

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    @video_game_king: I imagine once people realized they could be infected too they were all but exterminated.

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