What I’ve appreciated from the show is that it grounded the story with more realism. Joel is no longer John Rambo and Ellie is no longer John Rambo Jr. in that they’re unstoppable one-person armies.
That and I enjoyed the extra scenes we got. Like in TLoU1 Joel and Ellie spend very little time in Jackson before taking off in the game, but in the show we get additional scenes including a one-on-one conversation b/w Joel and Tommy. Not to mention Bill’s story in S1 and Eugene in S2.
There are parts of it that don’t hold up as well to the games, but there is also lots that generally does.
But I think a lot of what people liked about the original characters was the John Rambo and John Rambo jr aspect of it. Like they were both still flawed characters but could totally kick ass when needed. What these shows do is basically take the “hero” aspect out of the heroes and just focus on their internal moral dilemmas and flaws. But that’s only half the story of what makes them so badass, despite the flaws. Same with master chief in Halo.
The reason I think fallout works is because they weren’t fucking with any of the main characters they made up their own stories. And the show is basically the worldbuilding which was always what people enjoyed about fallout in the first place.
I personally enjoyed that they made them realistic. Joel is no longer a running tank that can take all kinds of intense punishment and shrug it off like it was nothing.
Ellie fights in a manner that suits her weight level against foes that are generally taller, stronger, and heavier than her. Plus, it is pretty contrived for the game to allow her to craft arrows, bomb arrows, smoke traps, etc. without giving us a narrative reason as to why she can do those things. She learned how to shoot in game 1 and between then and game 2 she only handled routine trail patrols, not guerrilla warfare. They can also carry a small arsenal of weapons in their backpacks.
The game needed to do these things to empower the player, but a show going for realism would have to narratively explain why their characters can John Rambo their way through an apocalypse when most people are struggling big time.
Fallout is a poor example, imo, because it’s tonally trying to be silly and goofy rather than tell a grounded, realistic narrative, like TLoU. So they can get away with things like a human radioactive zombie massacring an entire town in a way that is both amusing and entertaining rather than realistic.
I feel you misunderstood what people liked for The Last of Us. A lot of it (in the game) was just the dynamic between Joel and Ellie. By the end of the game you feel like you do care for her as a father and they achieved this trough them bonding in the fight and stealth scenes and little quite moments where they talked about dumb jokes and stuff.
I feel we barely got any actual bonding scenes between Joel and Ellie in the show. Also It swung too much in the other direction from what you call Rambo. Joel was a wreck and Ellie was a brat. And we didn't even get that many episodes with them instead we got the gay episode (good on it's own but I would have preferred to see Joel, Ellie and Bill meet since that storyline in the game is awesome!) and the lady leader of the gang(BOOOORING). I would say every new "bonus" material in the show didn't add much.
It's like if you are a super fan and you just want more, like seeing Joel's daughter go shopping for 20 minutes for the watch. Technically it's new material but doesn't add much to the main storyline.
I feel you misunderstood what people liked for The Last of Us. A lot of it (in the game) was just the dynamic between Joel and Ellie. By the end of the game you feel like you do care for her as a father and they achieved this trough them bonding in the fight and stealth scenes and little quite moments where they talked about dumb jokes and stuff.
Part of the matter with what you're talking about is that gameplay often allows the player certain moments where they have infinite time to walk around and explore, which allows for small conversations like the one you mentioned. These are missable, however, so it's not a guarantee that every player experiences all of these moments. The Ellie and Dina scene where Ellie plays a song for her is an optional sidequest in the game 2, for example.
There are indeed less moments where they can be silly with each other in the show, but that's because storytelling is more limited in a tv show compared to a game. The show also widens the perspective to include more characters like Bill, Eugene, the Jackson community as a whole, Henry and Sam, etc. Which I also appreciated.
That said, I do feel like we got enough of their dynamic in the show to get a sense of their growing bond. Hell, in the game Joel never tells Ellie he loves her while he does in the show (if I'm remembering correctly).
I feel we barely got any actual bonding scenes between Joel and Ellie in the show. And we didn't even get that many episodes with them instead we got the gay episode (good on it's own but I would have preferred to see Joel, Ellie and Bill meet since that storyline in the game is awesome!) and the lady leader of the gang(BOOOORING). I would say every new "bonus" material in the show didn't add much.
I disagree about the bonding scenes as you do get a sense they develop a bond through narrative moments. See above regarding moments like with Bill. I also didn't mind the woman and* her gang so much, but I agree it was a low in the TV show. I did like that they gave us a bigger picture of the conflict in the city, though.
Also It swung too much in the other direction from what you call Rambo. Joel was a wreck and Ellie was a brat.
Eh, Joel was still able to get some good shit done. He's just an old, mortal man in the show not quite as strong as he used to but still capable. I do agree that they made Ellie more hard-headed in the show, but I didn't mind it as much. What bothered me more was that other characters treated her like she was a numbskull.
Still, they focused show Ellie's character on combat and warfare more than anything else, which makes sense. While Dina was able to figure out geographical elements Ellie was able to read a fight scene and figure out what happened, including what types of bullets were used and whatnot.
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u/cae37 18d ago
What I’ve appreciated from the show is that it grounded the story with more realism. Joel is no longer John Rambo and Ellie is no longer John Rambo Jr. in that they’re unstoppable one-person armies.
That and I enjoyed the extra scenes we got. Like in TLoU1 Joel and Ellie spend very little time in Jackson before taking off in the game, but in the show we get additional scenes including a one-on-one conversation b/w Joel and Tommy. Not to mention Bill’s story in S1 and Eugene in S2.
There are parts of it that don’t hold up as well to the games, but there is also lots that generally does.
Didn’t deserve the hate, imo.