This is another video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. This video is my quick reaction to the season one finale of HBO’s The Last of Us. Like my other quick reacts, I didn’t script this or structure it like a video essay. As a result, I stutter and stammer a lot. I also make a few errors here and there. But I still try to get my point across.
Also, I do mention some heavy spoilers from both the show and the games. So do keep that in mind. Enjoy!
Filed under Current Events, HBO Max, Jack's World, technology, video games, YouTube
When it comes to general rules in entertainment and pop culture, the rule always works until it doesn’t. What I mean by that is trends are fickle. What seems certain, logical, and even unavoidable one day for a particular genre might be shrouded with doubt the next.
In decades past, there was a general rule that there would always be a prominent place for western movies. Granted, there’s still a place for them, but it’s not nearly as prominent.
Just a few decades ago, there was a general rule that if you put someone like Nicholas Cage and Arnold Schwarzenegger in any movie, it would easily gross over $100 million. That’s no longer the case, either. It’s been quite a while since either actor achieved that level of success at the box office consistently.
I’m also old enough to remember a time when superhero movies were seen as extremely niche with limited appeal. I even remember the reaction to “Batman and Robin,” which for a time felt like a massive setback for the genre that would last a generation.
These rules were once general assumptions in the entertainment world. And they were assumed to always apply, but then they didn’t. We should never assume a rule or trend will always apply, especially when it comes to pop culture. And I say that as someone who never wants to see superhero movies go out of style.
With that in mind, I think it’s time we finally change our rules and assumptions about video game adaptations.
Now, I’m not just saying that because I’ve been watching “The Last of Us” on HBO and have been repeatedly blown away by how great it has been. One good movie or show is a fluke. That’s why there are so many forgettable “Die Hard” knock-offs from the 1990s. The reason I think the time has come to adjust our attitudes is because “The Last of Us” feels like the last critical part of a new trend that has been unfolding for a while now.
And as someone who loves video games and wants to see more successful adaptations, I welcome this. In fact, I think it was overdue. I’d been hoping for something like this for years and have been burned by one too many “Resident Evil” movies along the way.
Even if it has taken way too long, I think “The Last of Us” has finished what “Sonic: The Hedgehog” and “Castlevania” started. It helped further distance audiences from the old mentality that video game adaptations tend to suck by default. It made the case that a video adaptation can be done and done well. There’s even a proven process to it, which has become more and more refined, going back to the days of the first “Tomb Raider” movies with Angelina Jolie.
A big part of what makes “The Last of Us” work so well is that it stays remarkably true to the source material in terms of ambience and theme. It doesn’t completely retell the story of the game. It nicely supplements it. The game is the foundation and the scaffolding. The show is the meat and the substance.
Even a movie like “Sonic: The Hedgehog,” which doesn’t closely mirror any of the games, still captures the heart and tone of character. The Sonic you see in the movie feels like a natural extension of the one you play in the game.
A show like “Arcane” takes it even further than that. It actually uses that foundation to build new, more compelling lore for every character involved. Even elements not covered in the game can get fleshed out, but in a way that doesn’t involve reinventing or reshaping the characters or world. More importantly, it doesn’t just rely entirely on the built-in audience to fill in the blanks. There’s a real, concerted effort to tell a cohesive story beyond the action.
This all seems obvious now, but it wasn’t that long ago that it was deemed impossible or incompatible with video game adaptations. I think we need to ditch that mentality once and for all. That’s not to say that video adaptations will stop sucking entirely. Even with their current popularity, superhero movies can still be awful. Just look at “Moribus.”
I’m also not convinced the upcoming “Super Mario Bros” movie will be great, but that might just be because I still cringe at the 1990s adaptation that had Dennis Hopper playing Bowser.
But the precedent has already been set.
The standards have already been raised.
A show like “The Last of Us” and a movie like “Sonic: The Hedgehog” is no longer a fluke or a one-off. They are now part of a tangible, verifiable trend that video game adaptations can be great in their own right. And personally, I hope to see more in the future. There’s definitely a place for them in popular culture.
Video games have come a long way since the days of Tetris and Pong. Players today expect more story and depth than ever before. That sort of thing can definitely translate into blockbuster franchises or shows and they should. Because regardless of the medium or source, there will always been an audience for great stories with memorable characters.
Filed under HBO Max, television, video games
This video is my quick reaction to the series premier of HBO’s The Last of Us. Please note I didn’t script this like I usually do. So it’s a little messy and I do stutter quite a bit. But if you’d like to see more of these kinds of reaction videos, please let me know.
Filed under Jack's World, television, YouTube
How do you follow up a masterpiece? Whether it’s a painting, a TV show, a movie, or a video game, how can you improve on what many see as the best of the best? It’s a relevant question and one the “Terminator” franchise has failed to answer for 20 years.
Now, “The Last of Us” is facing that same issue. Years ago, I cited this game as an incredible achievement in terms of storytelling and characterization. Like so many others, I eagerly awaited the release of the sequel. I wanted to see the next step in Joel and Ellie’s journey.
Then, the infamous leaks came out that spoiled large parts of the game. After that, my enthusiasm for the game quickly diminished.
Now, “The Last of Us II” has finally come out. Enough time has also passed to confirm how accurate these leaks are. In that sense, there’s some good news and bad news. The good news is, the leaks weren’t as disappointing as implied. The bad news is, they’re still pretty goddamn disappointing.
It’s akin to being run over by a Prius instead of a fully loaded dump truck.
The reasons for that disappointment are many. I haven’t bought the game. I actually canceled my pre-order after the leaks came out. I still intended to buy the game if the leaks were debunked, but that didn’t happen. I only confirmed them through both a friend and through a few Twitch streams.
I won’t get into the details of the spoilers. I’ll just note that they present a very bleak, very depressing resolution to this story that got us so emotionally invested in the first game. For a game company with as great a track record as Naughty Dog, that’s quite a downgrade. To appreciate just how bad it is, imagine if this was how the “Logan” movie played out.
In the first 20 minutes of the movie, some random character that nobody has ever heard of, let alone cared about, brutally kills Logan in front of Laura. Then, for the rest of the movie, it attempts to make us sympathize with this character who killed Logan. On top of that, when Laura gets a chance to avenge her fallen father, she opts not to for reasons that don’t make sense. She just lets this person go, offering no closure or catharsis.
Those who have played the game can probably fill in the blanks. Again, I don’t want to detail too many spoilers. I’ll just say that there’s a character named Abby in the game and she might very well go down in history as the most hated video game character of all time. It’s not just what she does that makes her deplorable. It’s how the game tries to make players care about her.
To some extent, I get the intention. The premise of the game actually has a novel concept. It attempts to send a message that violence and hatred is a brutal cycle. The more you pursue it, the more it perpetuates. In pursuing that path, you don’t know just how many people you hurt, destroy, or ruin. That’s a good message and a great premise, but this game just fails at every possible turn to make it fit the story.
It shows in how fans have reacted to it. As of this writing, the Metacritic score from users is in incredibly low. It stands in stark contrast to the critical reception of the game, which is always quite telling, as certain movies in recent years have shown. A recent Forbes article attempts to explain it away, using bigotry and bots.
However, I don’t think that’s accurate. I think that’s just making excuses for a story that clearly didn’t work with the audience. Now, even the creators behind the game are starting to attack that audience, which is a problem. I know I’m not a successful author or creator. The chances of me ever getting that success are very slim. However, I know enough to understand how idiotic it is to attack your audience/consumers.
It leaves me genuinely concerned about the larger impact of this game. It also has me concerned about what this will do to an industry that is already laden with controversies and negative hashtags. I’m already bracing for plenty of rants, excuses, and whining from every side. At this point, it’s inevitable. I also seriously doubt that “The Last of Us,” as a franchise, may have just destroyed its future.
It’s tragic. Hopefully, the pending release of “Cyberpunk 2077” and the graceful presence of Keanu Reeves will balance things out in the gaming world.
Filed under Current Events, outrage culture, political correctness, politics, video games
People have mixed, but intense opinions on spoilers. I know people who will get downright violent if you threaten to spoil something to them. I also know people who just roll their eyes and brush them off, as though they’re no big deal. It’s one of those issues where there’s very little middle ground.
In the age of the internet and social media, it’s almost impossible to avoid them. Some movies, video games, and TV shows can be completely spoiled in a single tweet. There are unmoderated anonymous boards like 4chan where every detail can be spoiled, alongside posts of trolls determined to make ordinary people gouge their eyes out.
Personally, I prefer to read spoilers before I see a movie, buy a game, or get invested in a show. When I saw “Dark Phoenix” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” I read spoilers beforehand. They actually made me more excited to see those movies because I liked what I read.
Sometimes, I make exceptions. I avoided spoilers for both “Avengers: Endgame” and “Breaking Bad.” In those cases, I really wanted to feel the impact when I saw how the story played out the first time. While I doubt reading spoilers would’ve made me enjoy both stories any less, there was an element of impact that I couldn’t have gotten otherwise.
I think a lot of people make exceptions when it comes to spoilers, but sometimes they have an impact that goes beyond spoiling a surprise. That’s what happened recently with “The Last of Us Part 2,” one of the most anticipated video games of the past decade. As someone who played the first “The Last of Us” and praised it on multiple occasions, I was among those brimming with excitement.
Then, an employee at the developer, Naughty Dog, leaked the entire story. Out of respect for those who still don’t want to be spoiled, I won’t go into detail here. I’ll just cite the report by Den of Geek, who also made a concerted effort to avoid such details.
Den of Geek: The Last of Us 2 Leaked Plot Confirmed by Naughty Dog
The Last of Us Part 2‘s story has been leaked. Various clips that showcase nearly the entirety of the game’s story have made their way online. Naughty Dog has recently confirmed the leak via a tweet that asks fans to not spoil the game for others and to avoid spoilers if possible.
The extent of this leak is massive. Not only do these leaked clips include nearly every major cutscene from The Last of Us Part 2, but it seems that fans have also gotten their hands on a leaked level list that details the story structure of the sequel.
Now, I’m going to be careful with my words here because I don’t want to spoil this game for those who don’t want to be spoiled. Even though the leaks have spread on nearly every platform, I don’t want to compound the issue. The primary reason I’m bringing this issue up with “The Last of Us Part 2” is because this whole situation with spoilers has some important insights that are worth mentioning.
The biggest insight, thus far, is just how much these spoilers effect the perception of the game. Before the leaks came out, “The Last of Us Part 2” was by far one of the most anticipated games of the year. Naughty Dog’s reputation was very polished and there weren’t many people saying bad things about them.
That situation has been completely reversed.
While it’s hard to gauge every reaction, I’ve seen a fairly consistent pattern. Almost everyone, including those who were very excited about this game, are incredibly disappointed by this. It’s not just that the story was spoiled. The details of that story have rubbed everyone the wrong way.
Without getting into specifics, they effectively undermine some of the most important aspects of the first game. The journey the players took in “The Last of Us“ was a deeply emotional experience. Even if you’d read the spoilers ahead of time, there’s a lot of appeal to that experience. I knew the basic of the game long before I played it. It still had a profound impact on me by the time I got to the end of the game.
With “The Last of Us Part 2,” that impact is effectively undercut. The journey that we took in the first game doesn’t matter as much in this game. Everything that made you fall in love with these characters and their struggles is either ignored or overshadowed by something else. For anyone who loved the first game, where’s the appeal in that?
There are also some “political” overtones to the story that have rubbed people the wrong way. I put “political” in quotes because in the world of video games, “political” is usually just code for “political or ideological leanings that I don’t agree.” I’ve never cared much for that. In general, I try to avoid it, but it has become an unfortunate trend in video games, thanks to scandals that have only gotten more absurd with time.
The only aspect of “politics” that I resent in video games, and media in general, is how it tends to hallow out a story. If the point of a story is to just score certain points with certain ideologies, then it renders the story bland and predictable. When done poorly, it becomes outright propaganda.
Based on these spoilers, I won’t say that “The Last of Us Part 2” reeks or propaganda, but the ideological themes are not exactly subtle. While those themes don’t bother me personally, I’ve seen enough internet outrage mobs to know the reaction it’ll incur. That reaction will only obscure any legitimate criticism of the game and its story.
I had not pre-ordered this game, but I was planning to once a new release date was finalized. Now, I’ve no desire to play this game anytime soon. I’ll still follow reviews and feedback. If parts of these leaks prove to be inaccurate, I’ll gladly change my tune. To date, however, nobody at Naughty Dog has denied them. That’s often a sign that they’re real.
To some extent, I’m grateful. I’d much rather learn about this before I dropped over $60 on a game that was only going to disappoint me. During these times, nobody can afford to waste that kind of money. I’ll wait until others play the game to see how the full story plays out. Maybe it’ll work out in the end, but I’m not very hopeful.
It’s a disappointing turn for something that I was genuinely excited about. It also darkens the prospect of this franchise becoming a how on HBO. It’ll be interesting to see how these leaks and the reactions to them effect the sales of the game. If it’s as bad as some dread, then the emotional journey that this franchise took us on could come to an abrupt and tragic end.
Filed under Current Events, LGBTQ, outrage culture, political correctness, psychology, video games
In this age of fake news, baseless rumors, and 4chan leaks, it’s easy to be cynical. Even when you see news or rumors that seem genuinely good, it’s hard to believe it’s real. Sometimes, you feel like you live in a world where no news or rumors could possibly be that good. Therefore, it must be wrong or fake.
Then, every once in a while, something comes along that reminds you that genuine good can still happen in this crazy world. Even if it seems rare, that doesn’t make it any less awesome. That’s how I felt when news broke yesterday that HBO, fresh off the heels of turning “Watchmen” into an incredible TV series, announced that it was making a show based on the video game, “The Last of Us.”
CNN: HBO is turning “The Last of Us” video game into a TV series
To those who haven’t played this game or aren’t familiar with the story, it’s hard to appreciate why this news is so incredible. I’ve written about this game and its two titular characters, Ellie and Joel, before. However, the impact of this game goes beyond that. This is one of those rare games that isn’t just a game. It’s a narrative experience that hits you in ways you don’t expect.
On the surface, the primary experience is that of a post-apocalyptic survival horror game that just happens to be one of the most critically acclaimed games of the past 20 years. What makes it so special is how it evokes so many emotions along the way. I knew when I bought the game that it was heavy on drama. I braced myself, thinking I could handle it, especially after seeing “Logan.” It still wasn’t enough.
I’m not the only one who had that experience either. Many others have shared their experience with this game. It really is an emotional roller coaster in all the right ways. The idea that HBO is going to take that experience and build a show around it is just too amazing for words.
At the moment, there aren’t many details, other than the fact that Craig Mazin, who produced “Chernobyl,” is working with the game’s creator, Neil Druckmann. However, given how hard HBO has been working to fill the void left by “Game of Thrones,” I’m encouraged that they have that much more incentive make this show as incredible as the game.
I’ll definitely be following news about this announcement closely, moving forward. In the meantime, for those who don’t play video games and need proof that this game will make an awesome show, I offer you this.
Filed under television, video games
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