I think we might have our first truly great adaptation here (Gaming)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Monday, March 22, 2021, 17:41 (1120 days ago) @ cheapLEY

Of course, it’s totally possible that the answer to my question is simply “a wider audience”. I have plenty of friends with whom I wanted to share TLoU because I thought they’d really enjoy it, but they aren’t gamers. And as I discovered, those YouTube “games as movies” videos don’t do it justice. Maybe this adaptation will be close enough to allow non-gamers to experience it decently well.

I think that's all in needs to be. People are too hung up on adaptations.

Does Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings need to exist? Is it as good as the books were? No and no, but it's still worth existing and experiencing for its own sake.

So I do get your point, and I generally agree, but I think TLoU being adapted to TV is very different from TLotR being made into films. Movies and Novels are just drastically different experiences, with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. TLoU already has a very cinematic, dramatic presentation. It’s storytelling didn’t feel “held back” due to being a video game, the way so many games end up feeling. A TV series can certainly reach a different (potentially broader) audience. My main concern though is that TLoU: The Game is one of the absolute triumphs of the entire medium. What are the chances that a TV adaptation will come anywhere close to reaching a similar high?

I think this is the perfect candidate for a good adaption. I also agree that the gameplay is tied into the story in both themes and atmosphere in a way that almost no other game I've played has done. I don't think that gameplay is essential to the themes, atmosphere, or story, though. I think film can capture all of those things just as well, if not better in some ways. There's plenty of segments of that game that do feel like just filler, like every single time I had to find a ladder or plank or pallet for Ellie.

See, I think the way TLoU wove gameplay into the emotional arch of the story is precisely what makes it so fantastic AND unique. Take that out of it, and you’re left with a well made story with great performances. Still totally stands up on its own, but it’s not like there’s a shortage of similar content already on TV and in Film. We already have The Road, Logan, or The Walking Dead (granted, TWD has been all over the map in terms of quality, but at its best it certainly was deserving of the hype IMO).

In a vacuum, it’s totally fine if the TLoU show comes out and it’s decent, or even really good. But my fear with this particular choice is that if it doesn’t receive a comparably glowing reception to the original game, it might put a bit of a chill on studios willingness to try more video game adaptations in the future. I don’t think TLoU is special because of any of its “big picture” attributes. For me, it’s the countless tiny details that all came together like lightning in a bottle. I just can’t help but think the odds of a TV series duplicating all those successes are vanishingly small.

I actually think a franchise like Destiny is a much better option for screen adaptation, because there’s so much rich source material to pull from, but all the room in the world to create a new, unique stand-alone story that doesn’t have to match any pre-existing narrative beat for beat.