The Last of Us (HBO) - Breaking the Video Game Curse for Adaptions

[Salodin]

Yeah, but even when you get rushed with 3-4 you can often just punch your way through if you space yourself well (on Hard difficulty anyway)

I had no idea that you could brick/bottle and punch clickers to death until this playthrough

Honestly, the encounters are borked iirc. Many encounters are a lot easier if you're less stealthy tbh, especially when you can do many overt actions and then distract enemies away to hide for another ambush. I played it real metal gear like the first time, but realized I was just holding Joel back lol

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[Meresgi]

Honestly, the encounters are borked iirc. Many encounters are a lot easier if you're less stealthy tbh, especially when you can do many overt actions and then distract enemies away to hide for another ambush. I played it real metal gear like the first time, but realized I was just holding Joel back lol

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Yeah AI isn't too great in that game from what I remember, suffers from the typical Kill this dude with a bomb, run and hide, wait....everyone goes "hmmm...guess I was mistaken about Fred getting molotoved, oh well hum dee hum dum". I don't remember the enemy AI going full search mode for forever once youve been found out

[NotGreyheim]

Since there's been some game discussion in here, I thought it would merit mentioning that Annie Wersching (actress who voiced Tess in the game) passed away this morning.

[Obsidian]

Damn. Way too young.

[thetruepandagod]

episode was a lil gay ngl

[Takiwaki]

Drastic change, was it better or worse?

[thetruepandagod]

never played game, but i can tell it's diverged.

feel as though my time wouldve been better spent finally watching brokeback mountain tbh

[Koul]

It's pretty much a fan service filler episode

Also,

Spoiler: show

He's some doom prepper guy and he's SHOOTING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD! What.

[Obsidian]

I didn't sign the permission slip for that feel trip.

I'm sure the internet hates it. I thought it was fine.

[Andalusian girls]

you know they're bringing out the big feel guns when Richter's On the Nature of Daylight drops

but ya good ep, very good even. ditches the game for large parts to flesh out backstory but does it p damn well.

Spoiler: show

not the greatest love story you'll ever see but damn competent storytelling with the callbacks and framing and echoing themes. a survival love tale inside Joel's framing tragedy of building a small cairn for Tess by the river at the beginning then Bill's note telling him to take care of her at the end. the suicides are gonna get the big punch but kind of a beautiful story within a zombie apocalypse, apocalypse or not life only ends the one way. they are old and together and were mostly happy and had a life. can't ask for more. not a story you'll see told in any other zombo fiction.

good beach one off, especially with the hell Ellie and Joel are fixin to run into as the narrative does its giant crescendo climax that should dominate the second half of the season

[Andalusian girls]

Spoiler: show

He's some doom prepper guy and he's SHOOTING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD! What.

also lmao i thought the same thing. but he is a survivalist with probably no military training and never been in an actual gunfight

[Andalusian girls]

still they clearly did it to get that shot

[Andalusian girls]

Spoiler: show

hehehehe

[Weltall]

The change was perfectly done. Bravo to an amazing episode of television.

[Greedouw]

Wasn't ready for an episode to maximize my Sunday scaries

[Xno Kappa]

Was I the only one who still kinda expected some kind of hidden agenda from Frank lol?

[Uzor]

No, that was my first thought as well. Asking him to take a shower and then run and loot everything, or sleeping with him to try to gain his trust and then kill him to take the town over. He gave me hidden agenda vibes at first.

[Meresgi]

Drastic change, was it better or worse?

Way better

Spoiler: show

People are complaining about missing out on Ellie and Bill dialogue that was pretty funny in the game but I really liked them just showing Bill in a different light. They kept his grumpiness but fleshed out the character way more. Frank in the game was just a random body you found that had a few hints to the fact that he and Bill were more then just friends but that was it, and stoked the fires of Bill's isolationism and loneliness within the game setting. And you never saw Bill again so changing him up a bit doesn't bother me in the slightest

Also the after show behind the scenes with Nick Offerman without a beard....wtf!

[The Stig]

Just watched the episode. What a wonderful episode. Like Meresgi posted above:

EPISODE SPOILERS

Spoiler: show

I was looking forward to Bill and Joel meeting along with the quips that happen between Ellie and Bill but none of that happened. But like the comments above, it told a story from a different point of view. I was happy seeing Tess's actor be featured in part of a flashback though; in Eps 1 and 2 she was primarily bruised/battered and here she looks very normal in the world. I would've like a bit more interaction between the but ah well.

GAME SPOILERS (Game vs TV Difference for Ep 3 only)

Spoiler: show

In game Joel and Ellie go find Bill and fight off a bunch of undead, including a signature game scene of Joel hanging upside down (due to a trap planed by Bill) and you have to aim and shoot at undead that come at you. Bill helps you out in game with the truck, and Frank is mentioned, but not shown. Bill is much more competent as portrayed here as he holds his own against the monsters. At the end, after helping Joel, Bill then disappears but lives.

If this is the way of the episodes going forwards, it's not a bad structure. So each episode may now tell a story for most of it (so we'll find out about the upcoming characters and their lives pre or during apocalypse). I'm happy with the undead not being the major feature where they are used sparingly.

Extras, don't watch/listen until you watch the ep of course:

[Obsidian]

Just as an in-game reminder

Spoiler: show

We do see Frank at the end of the Bill section, hanging in the living room of a house they hide in. He got bitten stealing the battery Joel and Bill were trying to find at the school because he wanted to use it to leave the town. In his suicide note he tells Bill he hated him and wanted more out of life.