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HBO Original | The Last of Us - Review Thread

RJMacready73

Simps for Amouranth
They could have done that, yes. But I wonder if Mazin felt like that could have gotten in the way at some point later in the Season or if they do a Part 2?
It doesn't work, the only way it could work is if you say it needs to be concentrated levels in areas where there is little to no wind to disperse them so they lie heavy in the air in basements or deep inside buildings and even then you have to establish that breathing in spores out in the open isn't harmful, it's completely unnecessary imo
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
It doesn't work, the only way it could work is if you say it needs to be concentrated levels in areas where there is little to no wind to disperse them so they lie heavy in the air in basements or deep inside buildings and even then you have to establish that breathing in spores out in the open isn't harmful, it's completely unnecessary imo
Peoples allergies go into crazy mode when invisible pollen indexes are high, a damned spore pollen spewing disease, and everyone and their mother would be gas masking 24/7 in a world without proper infrastructure and ventilation systems.
 
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RJMacready73

Simps for Amouranth
Peoples allergies go into crazy mode when invisible pollen indexes are high, a damned spore pollen spewing disease, and everyone and their mother would be gas masking 24/7 in a world without proper infrastructure and ventilation systems.
Like I said it's a great videogame mechanic but for a TV show going for realism it's a bit daft
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Peoples allergies go into crazy mode when invisible pollen indexes are high, a damned spore pollen spewing disease, and everyone and their mother would be gas masking 24/7 in a world without proper infrastructure and ventilation systems.

And who would want to watch a show where every character has on a mask? We went through that in real-life for 2 years and it sucked!

Last confirmed numbers from Sony I saw were 10+ million. Can I have the source for the updated 14 million figure?

ND said it themselves.

We are so proud to share that the entire The Last of Us franchise has sold through more than 37 million copies globally as of December 2022, and is continuing to reach new and old players every day. To know that Joel, Ellie, and our whole cast of characters have been experienced and loved by so many of you drives the entire studio forward.

 

sendit

Member
Sure Jan. Go on talk about underage looks let's see how that works out for you
b1xYxAo.jpg
 

manfestival

Member
One other thing I just thought of. They better nail that beginning of Last of Us. EVERYONE better be in tears in the first 30 minutes like the first game.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
I'm supes excited. Going to a premiere event where they're going to project the first episode on Ramsey's forehead.

Nah, I give ND and ND a hard time, but with budget, and experts in tow, i think the show has a lot of potential.
 
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jigglet

Banned
I've tried to play the first game twice now but keep stopping. I don't think I'll ever get to it, seemed pretty good but not my cup of tea.

Watching this show might be what I need.
 

Gamerguy84

Member
Damn I never buy into these things but I'm very interested in this now. I'm also
getting ready to start Jack Ryan season 3.
 

GymWolf

Member
Yeah that might let the morons get away with it but I'm glad they're going down the intelligent route myself personally

You really don't have a clue how airborne viruses work do you

Just stupid

Aye and imagine a gust of wind passes through that town and blows the spores all over our plucky protagonist's who where on the outside of town planning what to do but didn't see the incoming spore cloud on the wind cause they're fucking spores and invisible to the naked eye...

There's literally no way to include an airborne pathogen and have it consistent with the physical reality of the setting, it's fucking stupid, it's a great videogame mechanic but having these pockets of airborne spores just lingering in an area or a building and not be affected by wind is just daft
When you watch something semi-realistic like tlou, a certain degree of suspension of disbilief is needed.

I'm pretty sure that tlou fans and really the majority of not-nitpickers would have been ok with my explanation that keeps a beloved element of the lore while still having a certain degree of logic, it is about compromises dude.

But you are right, we should maintain everything super realistic in a videogame adaptation, it's not like mushroom zombies fucking up the world are something you can't normally see during your average weekend and that doesn't require any suspension of disbilief to begin with.

Oh and btw, i guess that millions and millions of people who never had a single problem plot wise with the spores in the games are just morons...it's not like nerds in vg forums dissect plots even more obsessively than your average serial tv watcher:lollipop_squinting:

Strange how belieavable spores are is NEVER a point of discussion in any fucking discussion i ever read about the brand...

P.s. it is not a perfect solution dude, we both agree, but it could have been the lesser evil to maintain a beloved element of the series, like i said i don't give too much fucks about it, i'm mostly here to see their take on the infected\clickers and for the chernobyl director, i don't even like tlou story that much to care about spores being present or not.
 
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EruditeHobo

Member
I just dont get how you cast an actress significantly less attractive than the video game character. The actress is fine, she was good in GOT, but looks nothing like Ellie.

I like Pedro and he looks closer to Joel but still not great at face value, going from early reviews it doesn't appear to matter.

Well it's really simple... the number one thing that people who run shows like this care about is performance. As long as a person fits a general "type" -- which both of these actors do, very obviously -- the performance is what matters. So they probably killed it, and like you said the reviews are evidence of as much.

What's much, much weirder is caring about and prioritizing the subjective beauty or ethnically viability of someone who is playing a character in a different medium? This says a lot more about you than anything else, it's a real tell on yourself moment for anyone who care about this kind of thing. Shockingly immature perspective on cinematic storytelling.

But I guess if you can't help it, you can't help it.
 
Doesn't look like they mentioned TLOU2 selling 14 million anywhere? Wrong link?

Not me who posted but from what I can see In June 2022 they stated it had sold over 10 million earlier in the year.

So sometime in early 2022 it hit 10 million is what it sounds like.

Probably somewhere between 11.8 and 13 by now I would guess.
 
I think we see the big difference here between TLOU and Halo.

TLOU > PlayStation Productions + HBO + Craig Mazin (Chernobyl)
Halo > Amblin TV + Paramount + Steven Kane and Kyle Killen (???)

Ultimate the Halo showrunners didn't respect the source material and have since left the show. Paramount renewed for a second season, but it's because they don't have any content. A second season with new showrunners could be better or they could feel pigeonholed by the first season. Unlikely to bring viewers back regardless and they know it.

You have to have a vision i.e. your own studio, and you need to bring in top talent to produce. We'll ultimately see what Sony does, but they have a lot riding on Horizon and God of War on Netflix and Amazon respectively.

I'm gonna have to disagree man. Season 1 of Halo was fantastic to me. I see that entire thing differently from others. And a ton of other people really liked the show also. The chorus of people who dislike it are in the minority. It was by far the #1 show on Paramount because people enjoyed it. Among those who don't like it, I kinda suspected they'd be a harder sell because of specific creative decisions that I feel were absolutely necessary for a universe like Halo to work as part of a TV show. One season simply isn't enough to fully form what Halo is and can be as a show. I believe the job before The Last of Us is not as daunting.

The Last of Us is a far easier universe to craft into a very successful show than a sci-fi space adventure involving biologically enhanced super soldiers vs a genocidal alien empire in a battle over ancient alien technology show. But among those who like it and are willing to give it a chance, it actually does a very good job of capturing and framing the foundation for what will be the Halo Universe. Halo has tons of mysteries around it. It never made sense to me how the Covenant upon learning what they did about humanity didn't keep themselves a solid stock of humans necessary for the purpose of activating forerunner tech. Halo's TV show cleverly solves that dilemma or major hole, at least for now. They could introduce it later in some more creative and limited fashion.

But I won't derail. This is all about this obviously incredible series. I fully expect it to be fantastic, and the cast is indeed top notch. The advertising for it is everywhere. You can't not see it on TV.
 

Yoboman

Member
You can literally solve that by letting a random dude saying this line in the first episode:

"after a while we learned how to burn the infected bodies left outside to not let he virus spread in the air" and NOBODY would say a thing against that.

It wasn't that hard, wasn't?

In that way you can still have setpieces with spores indoors and something even outdoors where there are no people to take care of the bodies, imagine like an episode where they have to pass this small ghost town with spores in the air everywhere, no visibility and clickers both dead and alive who can attack from any angle.

It is not a major flaw to me, but let's not act like there was no way to include spores and still have a consistent logic.
It's not that deep, the spores aren't there because they want the actors showing their faces in scenes that require tension and horror against the infected. It's a creative adaptation that helps with the product being a TV show
 

GymWolf

Member
It's not that deep, the spores aren't there because they want the actors showing their faces in scenes that require tension and horror against the infected. It's a creative adaptation that helps with the product being a TV show
I guess that's a good explanation, but it's not like didn't had serials or films where actors showed their emotions even with masks on (and these are semi-transparent masks where you can still see a good portion of the face), it's not like locations with spores are where the majority of actions scenes happen, even in the games they are a very small but distnctive part.
 
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iHaunter

Member
Good lord. The first episode starts on Jan 15th but it doesn't end until March. Why do they do this stupid shit. 3 months for 1 season...
 
I'm gonna have to disagree man. Season 1 of Halo was fantastic to me. I see that entire thing differently from others. And a ton of other people really liked the show also. The chorus of people who dislike it are in the minority. It was by far the #1 show on Paramount because people enjoyed it. Among those who don't like it, I kinda suspected they'd be a harder sell because of specific creative decisions that I feel were absolutely necessary for a universe like Halo to work as part of a TV show. One season simply isn't enough to fully form what Halo is and can be as a show. I believe the job before The Last of Us is not as daunting.

The Last of Us is a far easier universe to craft into a very successful show than a sci-fi space adventure involving biologically enhanced super soldiers vs a genocidal alien empire in a battle over ancient alien technology show. But among those who like it and are willing to give it a chance, it actually does a very good job of capturing and framing the foundation for what will be the Halo Universe. Halo has tons of mysteries around it. It never made sense to me how the Covenant upon learning what they did about humanity didn't keep themselves a solid stock of humans necessary for the purpose of activating forerunner tech. Halo's TV show cleverly solves that dilemma or major hole, at least for now. They could introduce it later in some more creative and limited fashion.

But I won't derail. This is all about this obviously incredible series. I fully expect it to be fantastic, and the cast is indeed top notch. The advertising for it is everywhere. You can't not see it on TV.

I'm glad you liked it, but it has an average rating of a 6.7 from critics, a 5/10 from top critics, and 2.9/5 from users. To suggest that only the minority of people disliked it, is a bit disingenuous.

As far as being the #1 show on Paramount. Can you tell me the #2 show on Paramount?

The Last of Us might win awards, to suggest that was "easy" is also disingenuous. Casting, adapting the script, cinematography, budget, direction, acting... none of that is easy.

Speaking on trailer views...they aren't that different from most House of the Dragon's views...and this oen doesn't have the hype from another successful TV show as well.

I have a feeling this could be HBO's new hit if they play their cards right.

I don't think based on the genre that it has the ability to match House of the Dragon. Being a "zombie" show is going to derail it for A LOT of people. Ultimately, it would be successful if it is half as popular.

TLOU is the first project released that began its life under PlayStation Productions. Uncharted was in the works for many years before PlayStation Productions was created. They got credited for it still, but it was not a 100% original PS Productions project.

That's really playing semantics since the very same people who were involved are the people who are in fact running PlayStation Productions but as a full on subsidiary of SIE. Asad Qizilbash has worked for SIE since 2008 and has worked for Sony since 2005 (SCEA before Sony Electronics)...His previous title was VP of Global Marketing and his role was "Responsible for transforming PlayStation’s portfolio of gaming brands into global entertainment franchises." since 2017.

With the reviews this season is getting, HBO are going to be pulling out all the stops to get another season out as soon as possible to ride on the hype train and keep people subscribed to their service

That's really not how it works anymore.
 

Dr.Morris79

Member
Well it's really simple... the number one thing that people who run shows like this care about is performance. As long as a person fits a general "type" -- which both of these actors do, very obviously -- the performance is what matters. So they probably killed it, and like you said the reviews are evidence of as much.

What's much, much weirder is caring about and prioritizing the subjective beauty or ethnically viability of someone who is playing a character in a different medium? This says a lot more about you than anything else, it's a real tell on yourself moment for anyone who care about this kind of thing. Shockingly immature perspective on cinematic storytelling.

But I guess if you can't help it, you can't help it.
I've read some pompous shit in my time but thats certainly up there.
 

EruditeHobo

Member
I've read some pompous shit in my time but thats certainly up there.

Yeah... the people who make a living telling stories tend to be somewhat high-minded about those details.

And on the other hand, clowns whine about how a character doesn't look exactly like they did in the video game the story is based on. 🤷‍♂️
 

noise36

Member
why do you want a 14 year old to be attractive, pretty weird of you

Bella Ramsey is 19 years old for starters, its not about in your words "wanting a 14 year old to be attractive", its about wanting the show to have the same vibe as game I enjoyed.

The looks of a character play a big part of how we perceive and enjoy the story. i.e. Ellie small feminine, Joel is her protector vs Abbie big strong masculine is one such example.

Switch around those character models , how do you think that impacts the vibe of the story?

My point was that the casting didn't seem good when it was announced, Joel a white guy played by a guy born in Chile and Ellie played by a women who doesn't look anything like her, gives off a different vibe, especially considering the last role I remembered was from GOT.
 
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ZehDon

Gold Member
Not me who posted but from what I can see In June 2022 they stated it had sold over 10 million earlier in the year.

So sometime in early 2022 it hit 10 million is what it sounds like.

Probably somewhere between 11.8 and 13 by now I would guess.
The bolded is conjecture that feeds into itself. We know that, as of June 2022, TLOU2 has sold more than 10 million copies. We don't know exactly when it hit 10 million, so we can't use it to try and establish sales momentum, which is what you've done by asserting "early 2022". Naughty Dog have only released franchise numbers since, which include the TLOUP1 PS5 remaster. If TLOU2 was pushing 14 million sales today, that means it would have shifted ~4 million units in six months two years after launch. That would be setting industry records and Sony would be announcing it in the lead up to this very show.
 

tmlDan

Member
Bella Ramsey is 19 years old for starters, its not about in your words "wanting a 14 year old to be attractive", its about wanting the show to have the same vibe as game I enjoyed.

The looks of a character play a big part of how we perceive and enjoy the story. i.e. Ellie small feminine, Joel is her protector vs Abbie big strong masculine is one such example.

Switch around those character models , how do you think that impacts the vibe of the story?
the character is 14, still weird.
 

Yoboman

Member
I guess that's a good explanation, but it's not like didn't had serials or films where actors showed their emotions even with masks on (and these are semi-transparent masks where you can still see a good portion of the face), it's not like locations with spores are where the majority of actions scenes happen, even in the games they are a very small but distnctive part.
I think what they've replaced it with is quite interesting. They are using the tendrils that wrap across the walls and floors where the cordycep dies as something that can infect you and alert other infected if its touched, which could add a lot of visual drama rather than slapping on a mask
 

noise36

Member
the character is 14, still weird.

Sounds like you need to work through some things.

Anyway I'm done with this topic, looking forward to watching the show.

97% RT score would have had me watching even if I had never played the games.
 
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I guess this is a pretty strong vindication for the best writers and directors in the games industry, against all those who foolishly claimed that the best videogame stories are worse than average movies and TV shows.

It was patently false back when those goons were saying it here on Gaf. And this proves its patently false now... and even snobby movie and TV critics agree.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
Glad to see it's getting getting good reviews. I'm still gonna check it out without any expectations. I really loved the first game, especially at the time. So it'll be great to see a solid TV show adaptation of it. It could be a great example for other video game related shows and movies in the future.

I wish I enjoyed the sequel just as much. 🤷‍♂️
 
I'm glad you liked it, but it has an average rating of a 6.7 from critics, a 5/10 from top critics, and 2.9/5 from users. To suggest that only the minority of people disliked it, is a bit disingenuous.

As far as being the #1 show on Paramount. Can you tell me the #2 show on Paramount?

The Last of Us might win awards, to suggest that was "easy" is also disingenuous. Casting, adapting the script, cinematography, budget, direction, acting... none of that is easy.

The Last of Us is an easier piece of fiction to turn into a successful show than is Halo, which involves space aliens, ancient alien weapons and artifacts, and biologically enhanced super soldiers. There's nothing controversial or disingenuous about a factual statement. In no way does it take credit away from all the work done on the show. Also, I don't take critic and user scores seriously, especially when you have the kind of pettiness that translates to sabotaged user reviews, which almost certainly transpired with that halo show.

Halo was the #1 show, the most watched thing on paramount plus in 2022 despite very strong competition.

https://www.thegamer.com/halo-most-watched-paramount-plus-show-2022/
 

Bragr

Banned
I'm gonna have to disagree man. Season 1 of Halo was fantastic to me. I see that entire thing differently from others. And a ton of other people really liked the show also. The chorus of people who dislike it are in the minority.
What do you think about Marvel and DC movies?
 
Peoples allergies go into crazy mode when invisible pollen indexes are high, a damned spore pollen spewing disease, and everyone and their mother would be gas masking 24/7 in a world without proper infrastructure and ventilation systems.

Is there any evidence that people would use pro masks?
 
I guess this is a pretty strong vindication for the best writers and directors in the games industry, against all those who foolishly claimed that the best videogame stories are worse than average movies and TV shows.

It was patently false back when those goons were saying it here on Gaf. And this proves its patently false now... and even snobby movie and TV critics agree.

Yup so many claimed that it couldn't compete directly with tv/movies...
 
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