The Last Of Us: NPC Syndrome 

My first time playing Skyrim; "Have you ever been to Markarth? Some say it was built by dwarves. I don't believe a word of it, though." (Loading screen) Markarth was built by the dwarves.

I like it when a secret rebel organization has their own logo printed all over their secret lair

Since we're enumerating nitpicks: Sarah's teacher says homework is due in class tomorrow, and then later that night Tommy says Joel has to come bail him out of jail because it's Friday. WHICH IS IT, DRUCKMAZIN

You could argue the Fireflies are meant to be incompetent. I don't know if the dev team were ever all fully onboard with that idea, the second game suggests not, but still. This is a group that thinks you can vaccinate against a fungus.

".. urinating so close to the wall, you have to wonder why he bothered unzipping at all.." This made me lol.

You explained why I stopped watching The Walking Dead better than I ever could.

1. The soldier is likely from the National Guard. Meaning they’re a less funded, less trained regiment that might be spread so thinly he’s solely responsible for one egress point. The FEDRA agent mister solo dolo at the wall is an unnecessary touch, though, especially when two guards could be overpowered by Joel and Tess, as they are in the game. 2. The Fireflies *are* an incompetent terrorist organization in the game. That’s part of the entire moral turmoil of Joel transporting Ellie; it is helping them in search of a cure, despite the Fireflies wanting the cure as leverage against FEDRA. Their goals are lofty and nearly impossible to reach in a state of martial law that is necessary for humanity’s survival. Joel knows it’s a hopeless cause, and it’s the reason he and his brother, Tommy, split up. Tommy joined the Fireflies and Joel knew it wasn’t going to amount to anything. Side note: in the game it is learned though notes found in-game that Pittsburgh was once ran by FEDRA but the Fireflies “won” their battle there. Under Firefly rule, Pittsburgh descended into the raiding, slaving, abominable waste it is when Joel and Ellie arrive. Ultimately, as a fan of the game, I appreciate their choice of faithfulness and slight tweaks for a TV adaptation. Love ya Georg.

I feel like your nitpicks are extremely easy to explain away. The soldier could have easily been seperated from his squad in the chaos, much like Joel and Tommy were. In his attempt to return to them, he went a long way around, leading him to mostly empty space, through which Joel and Sarah were trying to escape. There they clash. And the FEDRA guard was going for a piss. Everyone who wields a gun to make their paycheck, is going to believe in their own autonomy enough to take a slash by themselves. I'd go as far as to say their ego is enough of an explanation of why they are alone in that moment.

I assumed the first soldier was alone due to the breakdown of order and the second bc he was doing something criminal

The way you break it down is great but when you say " why get out of bed?" Really nails it.

One aspect of the game not translated to the show was the danger of spores and their ability to infect people by just being around them. The danger of these spores gives both a reason for Federa's drastic actions like executing civilians that leave the zone, and a moral grey area where you're supporting the side that are literally terrorists that would have no chance of containing the spread if they ever actually won

I think it made perfect sense that the one soldier to find Joel happened to be alone, to me it expressed the notion of how rushed and makeshift the response was to the virus. When it happened, it happened suddenly and without explanation and before anyone knew it, it was in the food sources, people went nuts, panicked, utter chaos. Army was backed up on the highways all the way to the horizon. 🤷

4:54 Today I found out that George prefers not to pee alone, but with friends.

It’s funny because most of these npc syndrome parts were changed from the game . The OG game logic makes way more sense ..

I can relate to Georg in the sense that he HAS to be critical to something, even if he actually likes the overal product. I can tell you It's almost a compulsion, and his is so bad he can only allow himself to be entirely positive about things on very brief lapses during christmas time.

To your point about the army in zombie movies and shows, that why I love Shaun of the Dead because the zombies are only a problem for like a day before the army mobilized and mopped up the zombies in quick order. In every other zombie show the army is mobilized immediately and falls apart immediately, Shaun was smart in acknowledging it takes day or two for the army to mobilize and begin sweeping.

The Stormptroopers missed on purpose, because Tarkin wanted to follow them to the rebel base. He let them escapse. Leia even suspects it and mentions it to Han

Oh my god your NPC dialogue from Oblivion and Skyrim at the end just killed me lmao

The game doesn't handle spores well at all. With Joel's beard, he'd never get a full seal. The filters on the masks need to be replaced. Spores wouldn't stay localized in one spot. Spores also stick to clothing. No way in hell could humanity realistically survive with spores, for 20 years in either version. The tendrils is factual, more survivable and ups the fear factor visually.

The fireflies are supposed to be incompetent tho and on the losing side. That’s why Joel threatens to break one’s teeth, Tommy leaves, and why they all got infected at the rendezvous to get Ellie. They’re supposed to be amateurs who cause more problems then fix them. Which is probably realistic to what it would like in real life if untrained, unskilled people tried to rise up in that type of setting

There’s a difference between things not being explained and things having no logical explanation. 1. The soldier could have been driving towards one of the highways, saw Joel and Sarah running away l, stopped, and shot the runner, then called it in to see what he should do with the citizens. In the game this was explained equally as well by showing the soldier guarding a single pathway that led to the bridge out of the town, which would only really have one soldier considering they’re probably spread remarkably thin given that the entire state is descending into chaos. That means this solider could have been a recruit, or going through basic, and was simply mobilized, which would explain him being informal with his superiors and not knowing wtf to do. 2. That single soldier is taking a piss behind a building and it’s made clear right afterwards that there are multiple soldiers within walking distance, hence why they had to GTFO. 3. Doesn’t Marlene literally say the fireflies are completely failing? Like she just points out that them trying and failing for 20 years doesn’t make them rebels, it makes them spray paint. 4. The fireflies want freedom and democracy because living in poor conditions is has natural pushback - but it’s made clear later on in the game and likely the show that the fireflies, if they succeed and then try to restore freedom and democracy, aren’t really the best at it, and the cities they take charge of quickly fall to insanity and brutality. 5. Robert literally isn’t smart. Like he’s shown to just be utterly incompetent in this iteration of his character, and he likely survived by a combo of luck and being relatively fresh to the game. 6. The army does have highways open, that’s already a given considering how we hear about the army maintaining industrial plants and exporting goods across the country. There’s no way that this is done without a highway network.

The funny thing is that the game is far more grounded than the TV series. :D I really do hope that people won't think the cheesy bits are due to the series being based on a game.

The walking dead reference is something I've always had a problem with. When secondary characters and extras don't use their ears, they don't turn around to check their surroundings, and they let a slow walker get to them way too easily. The show hasn't really been well directed when it comes to fight and action scenes.

the delivery of ‘’Do come back’’ really got me

Honestly that soldier in the first episode I think it would’ve been more realistic if he was originally with his squad but during a sweep they got attack by infected and he was the only survivor and then immediately after Joel and his daughter walk into frame

Man, I just really love your sense of humor.

This video is a perfect example of the decay of media criticism online in the past decade. The situation with the soldier was written that way because The Last of Us is a story about survival and loss and guilt. It's also a deeply anti-police and anti-military text. The soldier was alone to show that he is the type of man who believes he's the most dangerous threat out there. The soldier repeats "yes, sir." several times in that scene because that scene is trying to communicate to the audience that not questioning state authority in this scenario is an evil act. It was also repetitive to give the viewer a sense of unease, and I think to allow the viewer to predict what was going to happen before it did. So you can have that moment of, "he should just say fuck it and tackle the guy, or run away, or distract him, or anything." before that thought it ripped away from you because Joel is not, as a character, in the position to do that. Yet. The fact that you can only view this as "plot contrivances" and not the message the story is trying to convey shows your lack of imagination.

I suffer from NPH syndrome where I tried to be a doctor at a young age and take people on wild adventures to a White Castle.

NPC Syndrome: _TV Tropes and Trivia_ calls it "the Idiot Ball". It was a term first coined by Hank Azaria when he worked on the show _Herman's Head_ . He played a heel character who did selfish and stupid things... but so did the other characters. The random stupid or terrible things (the "Idiot Ball") had to be done for the plot to happen. The character chosen to trigger the plot in this way was said to be "carrying the Idiot Ball".

I love my Georg - I am so proud of you

Due to my insane schedule, I had to wait to watch finish up episode so I could watch this without worry. I actually live in Boston. Almost every reading this has probably played the game. It was Negative 27 degrees today and you can't walk outside for five minutes without heavy protection or you will absolutely die. Ten miles west of Boston is a tiny little town unless we're talking about Worcester (Wistah) which is huge, but that definitely doesn't look like the Canadian Rockies and neither does anything else. The highest peak around hear is Mount Washington, which is Nes Hampshire and today reached the second lowest temperature ever recorded on earth at - 105° with winds well over 100mph. Otherwise, episode 3 was fucking brilliant and beautiful. Yeah it was totally divided from the general series, but it gave me a chance to experience a lifetime of joy and sadness in the space given to me. I watched these men fall in love and fell in love with love while watching. Maybe I need to drink more, but fuck, I thought it was good. Perhaps on the next episode someone could split someone's head open with a bat and stay on the series for five more years. Idk. Fuck. Thanks again Georg.

I think the lone soldier thing is plausible enough. The military is stretched thin responding to a rapidly escalating and widespread situation, they're barely keeping things under control. He was recently given new orders to kill civilians on sight from a higher-up, which he understandably questions.

Brilliant video, my friend! I've never been able to put my finger on why so much media feels so contrived and NPC Syndrome fits perfectly! 🙏🏼

Every few months I remember that Georg Rockall Schmidt exists and my day improves substantially

I fundamentally don't understand consuming a story that was done better in another medium. I'm not opposed to adaptations but this one comes across as purely financially motivated and removing the positive aspects of the game that were both inherent and done because of that medium. I'm with Alan Moore, leave comics as comics and games as games. If you want a TV show or a film write one specifically for the medium.

The United States of America did not "rename" itself to the Federal Disaster Response Agency after the outbreak. The US federal government collapsed within five years of the outbreak, leaving FEDRA to run their individual quarantine zones independently. By the time of the show/game, each quarantine zone is effectively its own country, with FEDRA running each zone differently. Some divisions of FEDRA are more authoritarian, while others might be more democratic.

If I ever design a game, you're getting hired as most of the NPCs.

I agree there are a few writing mistakes in the adaptation but considering how scenes like Sara's death are extremely important to the plot it would be dumb to change the setting for the sake of a small detail, in the case of important scenes from the original it's just better to keep some minor errors than to change it for a little bit of realism

I lasted all the way through, but "Do come back" broke me

bro learned what plot armor was

1. They're not zombies 2. You're really overselling how competent the Army would be with flesh biting halfdead mushroom people running around 3. The US government didnt BECOME FEDRA, The government doesnt exist anymore 4. The Fireflies arent just in Boston, their leader just happens to be in Boston

We nit pick that which we love.

I quite honestly didn't even know The Walking Dead was still airing. I think I quit right around season 4 if not sooner.

With each new glowing review of TLoU, I feel worse and worse about shrugging my way through the first two episodes and not thinking terribly much of it. "Yes, yes, I see. The real monsters were people all along." What a stunningly original take on the bone-weary zombie genre!

The thing I can't stand the most is how the whole series even before the show it's been put on a massive very annoying looking pedestal. How pretentious the people behind the games, and definitely the show have been. for example the showrunner recently saying there weren't any good games before Last of Us came to save gaming. They're high on their own farts.

guards at a watchpost is supposed to always be two in case something comes up. for example, having to apprehend a trespasser, or taking a piss.

It's hard to take these comments seriously. I really hope he knows more about the game. Calling Clickers just "Zombies" is so reductive. An army could contain a zombie outbreak he is right but The last of us Zombies are different.

Correction at 3:45 The Last of Us was written by BOTH Druckmann and Bruce Straley roughly equally. They never felt the need to credit Bruce as "writer" when he was already "Game Director". But he did write it. Bruce didn't know Neil would totally snub him for the TV show lol.

Woah such an interesting topic and I totally agree with your arguments. One thing that I picked up on concerning npcs are the people Joel and Ellie encounter in Episode 4 after being ambushed. I have to be honest, hbo was a bit too faithful to the game for my taste here. Hearing the ambushers scream lines at Joel that were almost one to one with the game was funny to me and I instantly thought of them as gamenpcs rather than characters and actual people in this universe. The only difference was that I didn't have a controller. But I think that's more of a problem for someone who's played the game recently than for a first time viewer. I guess there will always be some troubles with adapting a game, but I feel like with all thing's considered HBO has done a darn good job. Way better than I could have ever expected even with its occasional issues. Games just has less preassure to make sense, because of how much the interactive element carries the experience. Tv shows definetly comes with more expectations in terms of believability.

I feel sorry for those who don't know about Joel's sticky end. And you know Druckmann can't wait to get to that point again.

Walking Dead was for sure the worst "peek-a-boo" offender ever. Not only would zombies pop up out of nowhere, but people too. It's super irritating to watch, because it treats characters as if they have no peripheral vision or hearing whatsoever, and they can therefore be snuck up on any time the plot needs it to happen. But the show couldn't treat threats with any consistency either. Zombies were sometimes the most dangerous thing in the world, yet at other times barely an inconvenience. Large groups of zombies pose alternately incredible threat or none at all, depending in what the plot needed to have happen, but other characters would find it impossible to get past one zombie on its own. Or they'd have to creep around quietly so as not to alert any zombies, while also being able to stand in the middle of the woods arguing and shouting for hours and attract none at all.

TLOU is finally the bang average boring TV show it always wanted to be. Big ups 🙏

NPC syndrome still going strong in ep. 5

at the end of the day, it’s a tv show. it’s imagination. it’s not real. nobody is making us watch it, and if we have criticisms but still decide to watch it then the series is doing it’s job business-wise. i watch fiction tv shows for the very reasons you point out. things are convenient, they’re not real, they’re somewhat unrealistically optimistic for the main characters. i don’t want a tv show that follows a different main character each episode because the last one died. in my eyes, i’m not hear to witness some once in a lifetime display of ingenious writing and directing. i’m here to see a video game that i like be adapted into a series and using that as my rubric, i’d say they’ve been doing a hell of a job.

Man you highly over estimate what it’s like to be a soldier in real life. Most of the time you do feel like an NPC and you’ll legit find yourself in situations where you’re alone in the dark and you have to radio over and over again to find some sort of direction

The only nitpick I have is seeing perfectly good weapons left on the ground..or on a bunker wall. All of the firearms Joel could have taken from Bill's bunker and he took a bolt action rifle? What about the AK? Or some of the many handguns? After killing the guy that Ellie wounded (episode 4), Joel left his shotgun laying there.

I disagree on army thing. First thing that happens is people spread it not knowing on plane, car buses, etc. By time anyone knows somethings wrong there are already zombies spread out everywhere. With killing and chaos law is gone and transportation breaks down. This knocks down short term infrastructure. Military who havent died or abandoned post will have no chance of surviving unless they have a local power source, keep those who maintain power alive and can maintain a large freshwater source. The basic problem is military doesnt move fast enough, is decentralized in terms of location and isnt good at working without supplies constantly being sucked in, like how some US tanks run of jet fuel which is so absurd i didnt believe it was true at first. US military simply arent the roman legions. Roman Legions would unironically respond to a zombie outbreak better.

I have high hopes for this series after numerous catastrophic adaptations from the streaming media

NPC derives from Gary Gygax D&D back in the pen and paper days.

god z nation is such a guilty pleasure of mine, feels validating to see georg mention it!

It’s not hard to suspend your disbelief just enough to believe that a soldier goes for a pee in a place where he would, “be alone,” as at least some people don’t like to pee in front of other people, right? I mean, if you’re watching with at least some, “good will”? . . . I enjoy your videos, but I do wonder if you found yourself struggling to find something . . . original . . . to say about a series which you know will guarantee high viewing figures, given the topic? I didn’t get what the photo in the frame was about? Later you tell us it’s a framed picture of Frasier (It was so hard to see, I thought it might be Donald Trump?) but I still don’t get it? Is that a running gag that I’ve missed out on?

This video is so easy to fall asleep to bro

The original title/game was a narrative masterpiece, lighting in a bottle. It put the player right in the shoes of the classic, all-American father. It was deeply personal. A story of a second chance, in the setting of civilization's collapse. Men cannot be men-much less good or heroic men-unless their actions have meaningful consequences to people they truly care about. Good men admire or respect bad men when they demonstrate a commitment to the people they love. A concern with being a good man is what good guys and bad guys have in common. For that, it's a post-apocalyptic Western that can't be cloned, made sequel of, (Leering distastefully at Part II) or put to screen. It was a raw, vivid experience that will stay with me forever.

This narrative problem existed in cinema long before video games were invented, so it seems a bit backwards to refer to it as 'NPC syndrome'.

It’s funny that Neil was considered a gifted game writer but just manages to rise above the level of hack TV writer.

Thanks George.

What's funny is that he blames the game for some the nitpicks he has and says that video game to show adaptations are hard but every writing problem he has literally doesn't exist in the game. Lol

Thank you for your review, love your point of view. Be back soon !

To be fair, I think you're supposed to feel conflicted about FEDRA vs the Fireflies. They're both supposed to be corrupt and ultimately meaningless

Plot contrivance can sometimes be handwaved if it natural arrives through good writing but becomes jarring if it's down purely to move the plot forward - in the same way that a deus ex machina concept is introduced to solve a problem.

LAST OF US is setting everyone up for GOT 2.0 (you know: the bad seasons). Predicting it now.

Kelsey grammar as beast should play Abby in season 2

Ok, I almost hate this nitpicking bull shit, as much as I hate the Easter egg videos about this series. And that one when Tommy is separated form Joel and Sara is dumb, the car was on fire, what do you mean climb over it?

I find it fascinating how many people willingly embarrass themselves like this. Making passive income or even a full-time career out of bad faith criticism, continuous whining over frivolous things on television, movies, and video games. I wonder how long this grifter phenomenon will last.

The soldiers were on patrol in the buffer zone (he was not on the wall). One stopped for a piss, they have become complacent because the buffer zone is relatively safe. Likewise, the soldier that killed Sarah was in an extremely fluid situation, probably asked to man a checkpoint that was at one point safe, rules of engagement are extremely unclear and he's confirming RoE before he takes the shot. I think most your criticisms of the "logic" of a scene, is really just a lack of experience, and possibly imagination. I think authenticity is the essential ingredient when trying to portray a story with real world logic, and it's more a feeling than any one particular thing, so I understand why you may have these criticisms. Just don't fall into the nitpick trap, where fictional people cannot make mistakes, have perfect situational awareness, and always act rationally.

I’m so glad you acknowledged stupid TWD deaths. It was something I complained about often when it was good.

Thanks for reminding me why The Walking Dead got boring real fast.

your very last point has been addressed by the way the infection spread no one was safe their wasnt just one person who spread it to others everyone was infected from the get go due to the flower they all bought from indonesia

So do you actually want me to come back or are you pissed that I'm doing the potion-money grind loop and I've wiped out your petty cash for the next 48 hours?

I dont think the soldier peeing in the wall is a nitpick, its plain dumb and we get a way better scene in the game

The way you end this video. Seeming so uncomfortable and not sure what to say. Cracked me up. You got a sub.

I'd love to see a whole video about The Walking Dead.

More videos about the show! Loved this

I don't for one second thinking TLOU a realistic story. TLOU has a lot of verisimilitude, it has good drama, but it's no way near "realistic".

"Thanks for spawning in". lol, right?!

"I mean, we're all gonna die" [explodes]

Now that the curse seems to be some-what lifted, I have a very small amount of hope that God of War and Ghost of Tsushima might get good adaptations.

Writing logic. Now there's a missing piece of almost everything I've ever watched. To me, it's a lack of attention to detail. You can really see or hear it when a show or movie is done right. I think there are a few reasons for this. One, they (the people making the show) just don't care. Two, the production doesn't have enough time for anyone to actually fix things. After that, there could be any number of reasons. I think the one that really irks me is the writer/showrunner that thinks their flawed writing is the pinnacle of human achievement. edit: great video as always.

Thank You George Rockwell-Smith Very Cool!

NPCs call other people NPCs

The funny thing about the army containing small instances of a zombie putbreaks and socity moving on, is that its the story of the resident evil games. In the games zombie outbrakes take place in a house, town or city opposed to the movies where the zombie outbreak is worldwide. Meaning the games probably depict a more realistic version of what would happen in real life. Which is crazy to think if you played the games.

Znation went hard, wish there was more 😔

I find these endless zombie/apocalyptic shows so very tedious. Always in the US. Same tropes, cliches, plot points, character arcs, inconsistencies, drab and mindless.

maybe FEDRA has manpower issues. But yea, they didn't do anything wrong.

6:12 The US may not exist in the show. Could just be urban or regional states, rather than a national state. Probably numerous states claiming to be the real US

It's the duality of needing martial law and wanting freedom. Essentially there must be a transition from one back to the other. Conflict is inevitable. It's a pretty brilliant setup.

Glad you liked our silly show, Z Nation

Homie reinvented plot armour

I believe those were a little excessive. Sometimes we watch those characters and judge them by some atitudes, but when faced with an equal situation, or maybe even less, would do something stupid as well. Probably the soldier was separated from the group and the second guy was just taking a leak. Fedra did a lot wrong, executions, excessive force, control... But that isn't an excuse for the fireflies Neil Druckman obviously made some mistakes, but I do believe that The Last of Us wasn't made to be a heroic story about how an awesome soldier dad takes in this girl and protect her, its about understanding that even the biggest heroes are the villains of they're own story. Flaws are in the human nature, and sadly, we are pretty stupid and would absolutely just scream when encountering a zombie. I mean, knowing myself, I would absolutely separate myself from my group to pee.

Georg! What do you mean we're all going to die?!!