Was HBO's The Last of Us Really Necessary? 

I play some video games, but even as much as I love the show and listening to people talk about the game, I’m too much of a wuss to play it. I basically watched the mall scenes with the audio off because I hate jump scares so much and knew one was coming 😂 I’m glad the show gave me a way to experience this incredible story, but I’m sure the game is an even more impactful experience

Played the games, loved the show. Easy.

@@hanzycake It really is an even more impactful experience. I’ve never been so emotionally attached to fictional characters in my life lol 😭😭😭 I have a feeling that you’ll find you’re way to the game eventually lol

Nothing is necessary. Such a ridiculous question we’re going to be dead in the end. Entertainment is for entertainment that’s it.

I like the show and the game. 🙌

This for me too! It feels surreal.

It feels like naughty dog is trying to sell the connection that their fans had to a different medium that way they won't catch as much blowback for disrespecting the fans of the franchise when they do/don't make the next game.

They're building a house of cards all over again with the TV series. I've really enjoyed it, but think I'll skip the 2nd series.

how do you think they are going to feel about season 2 ? i think with the way they did the story of the show its going to be a hard sell that joel deserves what will happen next. i didnt feel ellie as a character was ready to carry the second game. so im not sure she will be able to do it as a character in the show either.

@@captaintony1227 its gonna be a shitshow for sure.

I hope you are talking about Bill's death and the full hour dedicated to pure homosexual love.

Honestly the game cinematics are 10x better, and I'm not even a fan.

@@hatedcritic2585 it’s been glorious reading all the edgelords hating on this on RU-vid.

@@hatedcritic2585 That was such an incredible episode!! I’m still in awe that they managed to fit an emotionally fulfilling love story between into one episode’s worth of content.

Well I'm glad we're selling the potential of game stories as really long movies. Nothing wrong with that

Nope

Honestly, it felt like a missing season of the Walking Dead. Mind you that I don't play the game.

@@its4riel710 than its just not for you, its brilliant in my mind and i cannot stand the walking dead

No it wasn't 😊

Last Of Us part 1 FULL game MOVIE in 4K in only 5hrs on RU-vid uploaded by Gamer's Little Playground. Way better than show. Better action, story and characters. *WATCH*

It's watered down in every aspect. It should be self-evident as someone who's played several times. The biggest parts the show missed were... -Joel and Tess handleing Robert and his men(Robert is tortured and killed) -The action event leading up to meeting Bill(Joel trapped hanging upside down killing infected)and seeing Bill and Ellie interact. -And the action packed highway abush scene(2 iconic kills preformed by joel) -Ellie providing cover with Joel's rifle in the city(Bonding sequences there) -Ellie saving Joel from getting critically shot and Ellie helping Joel shoot there way out at university. -Joel and Ellie getting caught in a water current being submerged underwater and Joel giving CPR to Ellie right before hospital.

@@REDRUMEDICIUS it's an adaptation, not re-forming a whole game in a realistic manner, drukmann has been also responsible for the show and this is how he wanted it to be, some stuff in the game are better than they are in the show and vice versa, I've never played the game, but watched the game play and fairly I can say that this is one of the greatest adaptations of all time.

@@curse_77Last Of Us part 1 FULL game MOVIE in 4K in only 5hrs on RU-vid uploaded by Gamer's Little Playground. Way better than show. Better action, story and characters. I invite you to check out these scenes. I'm not asking for a Rambo Joel. Just better action set points and brutality. The game delivers on all aspects. -Joel and Tess handleing Robert and his men(Robert is tortured and killed) -The action event leading up to meeting Bill(Joel trapped hanging upside down killing infected)and seeing Bill and Ellie interact. -And the action packed highway abush scene(2 iconic kills preformed by joel) -Ellie providing cover with Joel's rifle in the city(Bonding sequences there) -Ellie saving Joel from getting critically shot and Ellie helping Joel shoot there way out at university. -Joel and Ellie getting caught in a water current being submerged underwater and Joel giving CPR to Ellie right before hospital.

@@REDRUMEDICIUS you say that 'cuz you've played the game and got used to the stuff there, that's some sort of a mindtrap, liking something is fairly subjective after all so good for you :)

Not for me. 😊

Lol

No she really did the opposite of knocking it out of the park. She completely butchered it like a 3 year old putting the finishing touches on a Renoir painting.

Nah

@@drewkiely901why did she butcher it for you?

I will say that the flashback to Left Behind makes a lot more sense in light of the fact that Ellie is in a Mall in both temporal contexts in the game but I think it would have been shockingly difficult to make the Colorado mall compelling for viewers without stretching credulity about Ellie’s autonomous killing and lurking skills. It probably would have also been overlong. What I was shocked by having played the new remake as the show was airing is the way in which Left Behind in both mediums is such a dead ringer in terms of tone. There’s this kind of desperate somber dread that’s unique to both the episode and the dlc and I’m not sure how they captured that in a bottle twice. Prequels are usually awful experiences but this one plays heavily on the tension around the knowledge the viewer has of impending doom and the ephemera pity of joy. This reflects in the teenage anxiety about first love, fear of rejection, and exhilaration as you venture into unknown territories of romance. I think perhaps also these feelings are amplified by the unique queer experience of this that so much more fraught with such steep risks. I can’t really say what it’s like for a straight person who lived a straight teenage upbringing, but I imagine enough of it is relatable in any case and perhaps it’s well enough created in this case for even non-queer people to empathize. And then certainly the tragic dramatic irony that neither queerness nor military postings will be what separates these two girls. Finally, on a different note, I don’t think anything qualifies as filler unless the express purpose of it is to pad out time. Even if these episodes had no utility to plot (which they do) or main story (only tenuously) then it’s still not filler because they have they are not being made with that purpose. Bottle episodes are not filler episodes. They set out to achieve their own story and thematic goals and in this case they do rhyme with the rest of the series but they needn’t even do that to still be worthwhile.

For me the greatest disappointment was that they changed Bill and Frank’s story into a gooey romance. In the game it was a realistic and powerful tragic love story, which laid out Bill’s character, turning him from a cliché weirdo NPC into a humanised character that you feel for and understand and remember and care for even after Joel and Ellie leave in his car. In the show it felt like adaption to current political agenda rather than the story, that’s why it feels so disconnected in the first place. And the happy end feels so dragged on, and unnatural, and disney-like, that after it ends, the only feelings you have for Bill is that he was a convenient source of loot for the main characters, who even conveniently snuffed himself before they arrived so as to guarantee that you disregarded his story by the end of episode. Riley’s episode is nothing like that. It’s pivotal, it manages to make you feel for Riley and Ellie and their feelings while slowly unwinding, and in the end really understand the drama that had so much impact on Ellie both personally and because it made her immunity known.

Not worth 90 minutes tho (E3). Drops mic. Sees stunned face while walking away calmly

No they were always incompetent. Joel both in the game and the show was right to do what he did.

​@@pennybleta9721 I think to day Joel was 110% right to do what he did isn't seeing the entire message that their really wasn't a "good" side. If he was right to do what he did why would he have lied to Ellie about it instead of coming clean? I don't think Joel is a villain but the choice was def morally ambiguous for a reason

@@jeffalexgreco I don't know why he lied but it's a natural reaction I guess as well in order to protect her. Him lying is not a good thing but still everything else he did was from every perspective. This show/game tried to make it differently but fails miserably for those of us who have enough critical thinking. Which is most of the people.

@@pennybleta9721 I mean I have critical thinking & while I wouldn't do differently I still think the choice is ambiguous. He lies bc deep down he knows Ellie might have actually chosen to sacrifice herself for the a chance at creating a cure. She even says so herself in part 2 that he took that away from her. Granted Marelene & the FireFlies did the exact same thing but shepherding under the knife without consulting her hence why there aren't any "good guys". Of course any parent would sacrifice the world for their child which is why Joel's choice makes sense to the player. People upset with how Joel is portrayed in the show/part 2 Imo just want Joel to be their "hero" & the "good guy". When it was clear from the get he is far more naucanced than that. He admittedly used to be be a Hunter murdering lilely innocent people as others tried to do to him & Ellie. Of course the player bonds with the protagonist but to say he's overall good person is short sighted in my opinion.

Well Marlene is a bit different in the games but you also need a comic to aid in it so we'll call her game marlene so game marlene not only had time with the mom & ellie but she escorted her to FEDRA and visited ellie over her years of schooling she didn't raise ellie due to firefly business & for all we know she didn't want a kid anyhow. in the game FEDRA school is a better place for elie then the streets or with marlene herself where ellie is leaerning how to shoot, guard, take orders one day she could've been pulled to be a firefly should marlene wish it otherwise the girl had a reasonably safe life ahead of her as a fedra guard. so game elle knew marlene in univrse. but in the game the player meets marlene on the loosing end of a fedra war her group is on the downward decline in her area and in TLOU2 we see abby's group of fireflies (where joel & ellie will later head to) seems well established they're not threadbare like marelene's group is. they have enough safety that teen abby feels secure most of the time & she can enjoy wildlife hikes/scavenger hunts with her father just across the river so it seems like her life & group are reasonably stable & safe most likely due to having actual medical staff as apart of its members (you want to keep them safe medical anyone is rare as hell) so abby's group maybe able to make a cure but can marlene's group get it into hands? That was the gamer debate it really depends on how many other hands marlene has, what means do they use to notify the fedra zones about it, and how much can they make us gamers were 50/50 for pro firefly she needs alot to go right she can cure her own people first then via traders like fallout wonder to fedra zone to fedra zone smuggling it in & only curing pro firefly folks first or maybe even ever they aren't going to put the whole operation in jepordy to get every one but as long as say marlene cures 20% of those alive that's enough of a start they'll have cured kids and it will build up. but the other half of gamers were like it can't happen due to that's not how a cure for this would go we also don't have willing test subjects to toss at zombies and see how that goes and they judged marlene's group saying they're so shit at their basic jobs they can't do anything but this was before the 2nd game came out it seems if they have more stable bases like abby's the better they can move a cure around.

Stop letting people gaslight you. You're not below those who find happiness

Well the thing is, that final dialog is still important, because its essentially the driving force of ellie's plot in part 2. I don't believe joel will be portrayed as evil, the idea is that love is selfish. He committed horrible acts because he had no other choice, just as the fireflies had done. The actions of the characters in TLoU are all generally very morally grey, and it is up to the viewer to decide how these actions and motivations reflect upon themselves. I think the cliffhanger part is just a product of the fact we know that there will be a part 2 now :/

Told my mom to watch it she was a fan of Walking Dead. I told her it’s story driven first over infected. She watched it and kept asking me this is based on a game.

I would imagine people who don't play games would need adaptations just as much as people who don't read books. It's kinda the reason why adaptations exist in the first place

@@chrishaven1489 This is true.

It opens the door for other prestige videogame adaptations with stories that are much better than TLOU, too. There's a goldmine of great stories in games but not enough producers willing to take the risk.

@@ZephyrFate This is so true! What are some games you would like to see adapted?

@@oldflowers1342 Remedy games are an easy answer. I’d love to see a show for Control; it would be TV’s first foray into SCP/back rooms stuff too.

OMG my thoughts exactly.

I mean you despise Abby yet Ellie quite literally does the exact same thing she does. Did you despise Ellie by the end of the second game after the destructive path she sets out on? To Abby none of the cure shit even matters at the end of the day she's pissed the same reason Ellie was. Someone took her father from her.

@@jeffalexgreco I understand Ellie but I do not justify her in any way. Because her father was a criminal and she killed Joel for the wrong reason while Ellie did not even half of what I would have done to that bitch. It's a matter of whose justified to take revenge and who's not. And that bitch does not have.

@@jeffalexgreco Ellie sets out on a destructive path but she is always attacked first at every turn. By the WLF, by the Seraphites, by the Rattlers. Abby was treated as an equal and ally by two men who SHOULD have treated her and her crew with skepticism. Abby and her crew are murderers and torturers first. They could never build a community like Jackson. They are filth in the world, like the Rattlers. Abby is no better than the fat asshole with the ponytail. No doubt he had a life with tenderness before the apocalypse as well. We should follow him the next game! Only redeemable WLF is Owen but he does something pretty stupid (going for Ellie's gun, making it her or him).

It was. It was time for a good game adaptation to wake people up as video games being a good source material when done right.

I recommend Red Dead Redemption 2 next, when you're done with last of us

I was about to say the same thing

For me that has played the games after the show I went back and played part 1 again and it was so strange I found myself saying wow the show did it better in certain parts. For example when you find Franks note and you read it the notes so hateful makes Frank out too be asshole and sheds nastiness on Bill and what the show did was take two characters that had negativity attached to them and gave them something nice. When Sarah dies having Pedro yell Tommy’s name for help is a nice touch and I think Pedro showed more emotion there then Troy did. Having the infected kill Tess instead of the QZ officers makes more sense. The Tommy and Joel conversation and Joel feeling scared was a perfect change in the game Joel is mad at Tommy and Ellie all the way until the last second when he decides to go with Ellie. In the show they made him feel scared of failing because of his age and that’s why he asked Tommy too do it. Also moving the Jackson stuff into part 1 is a nice change. Throughout the game I was surprising myself think wow the show improved on the game a lot

I love when a good story gets someone in to a media that they normally wouldn’t.

There are so many reviews, essays, but not on youtube. Nice pseudonym by the way... "Swapna"... It has a strange vibe...

@@ozymandiasultor9480 i don't like to read :-).. Also it's my name Lmao not an alias (I'm Indian)

@@swapna3395 Oh, sorry, I am from Europe and I have never heard of such a name, no matter that I was studying Indian culture and philosophy, but I wasn't able to recognize it. About the essays and reviews, yes, many are written, but there are quite a few in this format, even on youtube there are many who are saying their opinion about whole series or parts of it.

@@ozymandiasultor9480 that's alright it's an honest mistake I've never actually known someone as the same name as me it's quite unique tbh.. And meeptop is one of my favorite movie/show critics on youtube first being acolytes of horror so I'm always excited when he posts

@@swapna3395 Hm, so you like this channel... I am subscribed to so many channels about films that I am forgetting their names and I can't follow them properly, I like films, not just horrors, and I thought it is smart being subscribed to many channels, but that just created confusion of a sort.

It could have never been a movie. the amount of stuff they would have had to cut out to make it a 2 hour movie would have killed the story.

It definitely couldn't have been a movie. There was already moments we didn't get to see as a 9 episode season. That's why most adaptations of games fail anyways bc they're chopped up into film format when they shouldnbe series or mini series

Exactly right, the show is a mixed bag, has a lot of ups and downs. What surprises me, is you feel the show is for people who loved the game, when my feeling is the story was perfectly told already, the game is a cinematographic experience by itself, so the people who already played it dont need a show that just kinda imitates it, and is more targeted for a new audience. So, something is not right when both you and me feel the show was for the other. I still would fully recommend the game as the best way to experience this story.

Tbh I’ve never played the game and I loved it 💞

I absolutely agree with Diego Lopez. Before the show came out, I had a general understanding of The Last Of Us Story. After watching the entire show, I got an opportunity to play it. I knew there were changes from the show, but I had no idea just how different the changes were until I played it. I think people smear Game Joel as a Numb-Hearted unit of a man, but he's a man who loses the most precious person in his life all due to humans doing inhumane acts. To desperately try to save your only child from a life-ending wound, having no power to save your kid. There's no way you aren't wounded from that. The line of Joel saying "You have no idea what loss is." And Ellie argue she does. I agree with Joel more. He's literally experienced loss for longer than Ellie has even existed. He's lost his only child. He views himself as a failure of a father for what happened to Sarah. Up until Episode 3, the changes the show did weren't big enough to change the narrative of the game. Everyone loves the love story of Bill & Frank. Personally, I felt they rushed the romance. In the game, Joel doesn't know Frank at all, implying their relationship was recent. In the show, their story is more This Is Us, than The Last Of Us. In the game, you actually meet Bill, and he's a real piece of work. Paranoid, selfish, antisocial. He's what Joel would be if he completely went Soulless Survivor mode. Also, Bill's Town is more of a death trap filled with traps than a self-sustaining haven the show portrays. It's actually the first time you have to fight a Bloater in game(Episode 5's huge infected with bullet sponge armor & the strength to rip a man apart). Game Bill & Frank clearly have a dysfunctional, possibly toxic relationship, with Frank leaving a suicide note for Frank, telling him how he hated his guts & basically deconstructs his character flaws. If I were to make changes, I'd have the haven eroded over the years, losing access to areas of the town to infected. I find it absolutely unrealistic that 2 men can maintain such a secure town defense with only one incident of raiders & no threat of the Infected(Zombies). I'd have them lose territory overtime, driving Bill angry & possibly lashing out at Frank. I'd even maybe have Bill's Traps decimate a squad of FEDRA, leaving behind parts to repair a truck, namely the battery. One problem. The area is swarming with infected & Bill's supplies are dwindling. Bill would rather fortify his castle than make a suicide run for it. Frank would rather take the risk so they can have a way out if shit hits the fan. After arguing, Frank would take it upon himself to get the battery, but get bit in the process. I'd either adapt it straight out of the game, or have Frank return to Bill with the battery, scared & apologetic to Bill, to which Bill would apologize back even harder. I'd have Frank ask for Bill to take his life, but he refuses. Confessing that he loves him too much to ever physically harm him. But Bill also doesn't want to be forced to kill an Infected Frank & risk getting bit himself, so he comes up with a more peaceful way to end his life, either poison or overdosing. Before the poison takes its toll, Bill & Frank play the piano together until Frank collapses dead. I'd have Bill be destroyed, mourning his love & life. Some time passes, with Bill burying Frank in the hole they met, planting a strawberry garden on top as a memorial. Bill would go full trapper mode. Hellbent on killing any infected in the area, and in the middle of it, he runs into Joel & Ellie. My Show Bill would be a more direct parallel to Game Bill. Wanting to get Joel & Ellie out of his hair & town. Joel would tell him he needs a truck, to which Bill reluctantly offers the truck he restored, but only if they help him clear the infected from town, as he is adamant to stay & maintain his home & Frank's Grave. Joel reluctantly accepts, giving Ellie Molotov Cocktails to help purge the infected from a safe distance. After the town is cleared, he thanks their help further by showing them how to make a basic, but potent nail bomb, another weapon you get from the game, and even says a makeshift smoke bomb could be made if they replace the shrapnel with sugar. Before they leave, Bill will talk to Joel, and say he's sorry for his loss of Tess, though Joel never told him, Bill is observant enough to know that Joel is going through a similar loss. End with Joel & Ellie driving off in the distance, and Bill either at Frank's Grave, or playing their song on his piano, reminiscing his memories of Frank. I have other changes to the show I'd make, but I'd imagine anyone reading this comment would need a break from all the reading. If anything, I'll post another comment with more show tweaks.

funnily enough, the game sold more 7 million more copies than the amount of show viewers, but I’m hoping the show will continue to grow, and bring more people to the game!

@@haileyadkins8412 The series already has 40 million+ views. In 9 years, across 2 games and two remasters, the series sold 37 million games.

@@tylersimmons6524 might’ve seen something wrong then because my search said the series only had 30 million views, and that the 37 million copies only included tLoU 1.

@haileyadkins8412 Per the AP - “'The Last of Us' is now the most-watched show in the history of HBO Max in both Europe and Latin America, HBO said. As viewers watch episodes on the streaming platforms days after the episodes air, the numbers for the series will continue to increase. The series is now averaging 30.4 million viewers across its first six episodes, with the first episode approaching 40 million viewers in the U.S., HBO said." That 40 million is just the number of views for the first episode.