Dustin Echoes (Fan Creations)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Monday, January 23, 2023, 12:47 (452 days ago) @ Cody Miller

I think I've identified the feeling of misgiving I've had regarding the show despite its objective quality.

The original game was, at the time of release, striving for a 'cinematic' story, and borrowed so much from film, and in particular prestige TV. Incorporating techniques and lessons from those mediums into that of a video game; saying 'Hey, we can do this too'. And it was a big success, and a big step forward for games as vehicles for more complex narratives.

But when adapted back into the very medium that inspired its choices, in such a 'faithful' manner, it just feels like a reminder of the game and those lessons, rather than something exciting as a show in and of itself. I get that this is what people think they want, and it's kind of just the extension of making 'cinematic' games to begin with. A faithful adaptation simply proves the original had worth. But wasn't it obvious the original game had worth?

And yet, the result just kind of boring no? That sucks to say because again, everybody is nailing it, but you can't just take the watching experience in a vacuum. While the game did what no game did before, the show is doing what every show has done before. The selling point of the show IS the faithfulness of the adaptation, rather than the artistic reachings of the show itself (which, make no mistake, are high and largely realized).

Always ask what new experience to do enable with an adaptation? The shifting of mediums is by definition to enable something different. And here the differences lack, because the show is just an echo of the game and the things it learned from TV. So FOR ME, someone who has played the game… the experience is simply not different enough to be compelling.

In a way, even though the Halo show was 'worse', I found myself far more compelled while watching it than I have been with Last of Us. And what a weird feeling for that show to be trashed for not being 'faithful', yet being far more interesting of an experience for me than a show being highly praised for its faithfulness to the source. But its willingness not to be faithful was what made it so much more intriguing.