Why The Last of Us Part II Can't Be Adapted

what was your approach to this particular adaptation as fans what do we need what would we what would kill us if it weren't there what what where are the opportunities to expand and change and and how do we make sure that the soul of The Last of Us is intact in this new form adapting video games to movies or TV shows takes a lot of work and a lot of the time Hollywood just doesn't get it the essential elements that video games are composed of don't just include the story it tells or the environment it's in but also how the player interacts with the story and the environment it hands over the controls and decision-making to the player making us an active participant in the world which weapons to use against this boss how to approach this puzzle which dialogue option will deescalate this conflict how can I get the timing right on this platforming section so I don't mess it up for the 47th time all video game adaptations are missing this element of player input and interaction the movie theater does doesn't ask you which path you want the characters to take Netflix doesn't give you an inventory and your remote doesn't decide what the characters say and that's because film is a visual medium you are a silent Observer not a participant however there are games that hold your hand more often than they give you control games such as Spider-Man God of War The Last of Us sure these games give you freedom in how to approach a combat sequence and freedom to explore the world and find side quests But ultimately these games are on Rails they are riddled with linear storytelling experiences sections of the game designed by the Developers for you to take part in but every player experiences it all the same let's take the beginning of God of War where Kratos fights a stranger in a superheroes battle it's an amazing experience for someone playing the game but not unique to one's experience at all because ultimately it's on Rails it can be replicated in an adaptation because we the players don't influence the sequence at all these type of games can typically translate well into adaptations such such as the Uncharted movie which was great for newcomers of the franchise but when it came to staying true to its original Source it didn't quite hit the mark for fans of the franchise then there's HBO's The Last of Us which was a rare and beautiful adaptation of its source and I'd even argue that the adaptation enhanced the original story by adding a lot more depth to its world for instance in the episode long long time we get to spend a lot more time with Bill and Frank's story than in the game as it was barely touched on there the show can sacrifice time from Joel and Ellie and S into a unique story suited for a television runtime while maintaining the Integrity of the show's themes and moving the plot forward so I'm going to tell you something because you're probably the only person who will understand I used to hate the world and I was happy when everyone died but I was wrong because there was one person worth saving and this method of enhancing the material goes for many of the episodes in endure and survive Sam tells Ellie that he got bitten something which didn't happen in the game so Ellie can try to save him by giving him some of her blood and that doesn't work which only fuels and furthers Ellie's Despair and depression surrounding her condition let's go and when we are in need the show can spend some of its runtime time exploring David and his community cluing us into his manipulative and pedophilic nature so we reached a conclusion about his character at the same time Ellie [Applause] does and again these don't happen in the game they're television exclusive experiences where despite the changes the story and themes remain not only consistent but expanded on this is is the Liberty that the show is able to take by adopting the original video game but when season 2 was announced I started getting a little worried let me preface that The Last of Us Part Two is one of my favorite games of all time I know it has its flaws but I still cherish it and the experience it put me through that's right not the story but the experience because this isn't a story rip for a television adaptation it cannot be replicated so easily unlike its predecessor The Last of Us Part two tests and challenges the player with with its game play and to help get my point across I'm going to walk you through my experience with the game which obviously includes some spoilers so if you're trying to avoid that for season 2 or you haven't played the game yet I highly recommend just skipping to this Tim stamp to avoid any spoilers cool obviously just like everyone else when I bought the game I was so excited I finally get to return to this world and play as some of my favorite video game characters of all time Joel and Ellie do you remember the joke um what is the downside to eating a clock it's time consuming that's so dumb and within the first 2 hours Joel is Joel please get up no and just like Ellie I am hateful I am angry and I want revenge as badly as she does a wlf move what are you doing you know what I'm leaving tomorrow and if you want to come with me great so when when she starts heading to Seattle to find the people who killed him I'm right there with her using my hate and rage to push forward survive and get revenge and for all three days in Seattle I'm put to quite the test because the enemy AI is insanely complex and it is designed so that each enemy has their own unique name I kill an enemy and another one weeps their name in despair as their friend is shot Alex SP Skyler I shoot a dog and its owner screams its name tired Jesus I killed the dog's owner and the dog cries and whimpers around its body [Music] the enemy AI is terrifyingly realistic and it also doesn't help that the killing animations can be so brutal and bloody and Pa these with the haunting sounds you hear when you kill someone because they don't just flop and go quiet some of them go out with this long despairing scream or a harrowing croak it it makes it all feel so real and there are even times when I judged by my companions for what I do if you're going to kill me get it over with if you've got the nerve [ __ ] damn Ellie so this isn't like other games where I'm killing nameless faceless Bots I feel like I'm killing people and that's the thing it's not just Ellie who is killing all these people but me too while it's true that the game is forcing me to play the story out I'm also deciding to play into it the same materials that make up a Molotov cocktail also make a health kit but when I'm low on ammo and surrounded by enemies a cocktail will help me a lot more you can stealthily skip most combat encounters if you're patient enough but if you want more bullets you have to pick them up from bodies you killed further incentivizing the violent play style yet I am a sweaty gamer and I still have a lot of hate and rage in me so I go through with all this violence and by the end of day three I'm ready to go back to Jackson the mass murder had caught up to me the time since Joel's death felt distant and I cared more about dena's health than getting my revenge at this point then we get to play as Abby and just like everyone else I wasn't too happy about it but it was necessary because to me Abby was no longer just a character I'm striving to kill she was a character I had to keep alive and that meant seeing why she killed Joel that meant getting to know and like some of her friends the ones I've already killed that meant getting to connect to a lot of her community again the people and dogs have been murdering for the past 10 hours but what was really interesting about Abby is that she followed the Revenge path just like Ellie she killed Joel and after it all she still gets nightmares not only that but she lacks so much purpose and Direction before she finds love and Yara and so I get it now I see what will happen to Ellie if she gets her revenge and what's funny is I actually see a lot of Ellie and Abby anyways they are two characters so Brazen so single-minded so passionate and both full of their own quirks and flaws that there was really no reason to hate Abby anymore especially after she started settling into the same role Joel took in the first game as she mentors Lev so when we're at the Farmhouse with Dena I don't want Ellie to leave I already know the outcome waiting for her when she gets her revenge because I just played it out it wasn't pretty nevertheless the game forces us to play on and go to California and at this point I just wanted to put the controller down which feels so rare for a video game to make me feel to make me feel like I kind of want to stop playing this I want to stop killing people stop pursuing revenge and hate and go back to my peaceful life with Dena and JJ but of course that doesn't happen and that's the whole point that revenge and hate is tiring and it can lose you a whole lot more than you lost in the first [Music] place so The Last of Us Part Two isn't exactly like those other narrative driven games yes it has a linear storytelling experiences and it is on Rails but it also requires a play player interaction so that the player can not only understand the themes of the game but feel them too it needs the player to go on this journey of Revenge to feel the rage and hate and use that in the game play it wants the player to become complicit in this world falling into that killer be killed mindset and doing whatever it takes to kill every last one of them it's the experience it requires because whenever Ellie kills a person or a dog we will be sitting as an observer of her actions not the enactor of them we watched John Wick kill hundreds of people in his movies without batting an ey so what will make us feel the dread of the mass murder Ellie commits if we're not committing it with her when I press down on the controller trigger Ellie squeezes the trigger of her gun put a controller in my hand give me control of the situation and I really have no one but myself to blame for killing another person and bearing the brutal murder animations and hearing the long croaks of death are just some of the way ways the game punishes me for taking this path but take the controller away and I'll just watch Bella Ramsey do it it won't be the same absolving the consumer from this experience detracts from the sentiment that the game is trying to communicate a piece of the puzzle may be lost from us because it'll be an elementary translation from a video game to a TV show kind of similar to how subtitles for a foreign film won't translate directly to the exact phrase being said and this doesn't just go for the violence half the story is trying to empathize with Abby and what better way to empathize with someone you hate than literally being in their shoes and having to keep them alive playing is her meant embodying her in her flaws like how her fear of heights is exemplified by the way my controls get stickier and slower when I'm on a tall structure for both Ellie and Abby there's a big difference between watching a character and playing as them and I think that's going to be really tricky to navigate with this upcoming season of The Last of Us however I will give the benefit of the doubt to Neil Duckman and Craig May they took a story where everyone felt they didn't need to adapt and they still were able to make some gold with it and they were even able to humanize some of those nameless enemies from the first game we can trade with you guys we can be friends I didn't know a BRI a right what's your name so I'm interested in seeing what they're going to do with this next season and how they'll get around such a large translation Gap in the mediums because replicating a story is a whole lot easier than replicating an experience thanks

Channel: Ramilicious

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Id: oEzN9iXPMSA

Length: 13min 28sec (808 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 08 2024