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Made in us
Nihilistic Necron Lord






Ok, I know it’s to raise suspense for the audience, but the adults not warning the child of upcoming danger until it’s right on top of them is dumb. Like instead of telling the sassy kid to be quiet, just straight up say Hey, I think there’s some really dangerous versions of infected ahead that are blind but have really good hearing so please no talking.

I was really surprised when there was a bust on a pedestal and no one backed into it and tipped it over. That’s such a common trope and it was Right There.

 
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran



South East London

So, I am really enjoying it so far, but I am not blown away by it. That's not saying I am underwhelmed by it, it is good and the production values are very high, performances high and special effects great.

I just don't feel there is anything here that hasn't been done before and the short, prequel, clips are more interesting to me than the main storyline.

I feel this might be the weekly episodic nature and this series might be better binge watched instead?

So, it's still a thumbs up from me, I just don't think it's as amazing as others seem to be finding it. Maybe I have just watched way too many post-apocalyptic, infected, TV shows and movies....?

"Dig in and wait for Winter" 
   
Made in us
Archmagos Veneratus Extremis






Home Base: Prosper, TX (Dallas)

StraightSilver wrote:
So, I am really enjoying it so far, but I am not blown away by it. That's not saying I am underwhelmed by it, it is good and the production values are very high, performances high and special effects great.

I just don't feel there is anything here that hasn't been done before and the short, prequel, clips are more interesting to me than the main storyline.

I feel this might be the weekly episodic nature and this series might be better binge watched instead?

So, it's still a thumbs up from me, I just don't think it's as amazing as others seem to be finding it. Maybe I have just watched way too many post-apocalyptic, infected, TV shows and movies....?


I'm in the same boat as you. It still has the normal post apoc/zombie tropes. It just happens to be better acted and produced than most even if it's not breaking ground. The fungal telephone is a neat idea and a good way to make it more dangerous to sneak around.

It's solid, I'm enjoying it, but it's not the best thing I've seen on TV this year or even this month.

Best Painted (2015 Adepticon 40k Champs)

They Shall Know Fear - Adepticon 40k TT Champion (2012 & 2013) & 40k TT Best Sport (2014), 40k TT Best Tactician (2015 & 2016) 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

HBO: The Last of Us is sticking close to the source material!
Last of Us Fans: YAY!
HBO: And we've renewed it for season two!
Last of Us Fans: Oh... do you have to?

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in us
Nihilistic Necron Lord






Season two is supposed to follow the second game, so apparently they wrap up the first game’s story in a single season.

 
   
Made in de
Dakka Veteran





 H.B.M.C. wrote:
HBO: The Last of Us is sticking close to the source material!
Last of Us Fans: YAY!
HBO: And we've renewed it for season two!
Last of Us Fans: Oh... do you have to?


Yeah, that second season could be a real gut punch.

Rick, the Grumpy Gnome

https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/ 
   
Made in ca
Rampaging Carnifex





Toronto, Ontario

While I'm glad the show was renewed for s2, I'm disappointed they're jumping straight to the second game. This was a great opportunity to flesh out the significant gap of time between those two stories. Also, while I did like what they were trying to do with the second game, I think they botched the execution in spectacular fashion. Inserting a ten hour flashback you had to play through right in the middle of the climax was so inconceivably dumb that 3 years later I'm still trying to figure out how no one involved in the development went 'hey, guys... maybe we should think about this a little more?'
   
Made in pl
Horrific Hive Tyrant





 Hulksmash wrote:
StraightSilver wrote:
So, I am really enjoying it so far, but I am not blown away by it. That's not saying I am underwhelmed by it, it is good and the production values are very high, performances high and special effects great.

I just don't feel there is anything here that hasn't been done before and the short, prequel, clips are more interesting to me than the main storyline.

I feel this might be the weekly episodic nature and this series might be better binge watched instead?

So, it's still a thumbs up from me, I just don't think it's as amazing as others seem to be finding it. Maybe I have just watched way too many post-apocalyptic, infected, TV shows and movies....?


I'm in the same boat as you. It still has the normal post apoc/zombie tropes. It just happens to be better acted and produced than most even if it's not breaking ground. The fungal telephone is a neat idea and a good way to make it more dangerous to sneak around.

It's solid, I'm enjoying it, but it's not the best thing I've seen on TV this year or even this month.

Yeah, this. I am staying just because l like both Bella and Pedro. They were awesome in GoT, and they are awesome here.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/01/29 16:49:51


 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

I wondered why they didn't just re-cast Annie Wersching as Tess for TLOU. Well... I kinda got my answer, and not in the way I was expecting. Very sad news. I've liked Wersching in everything I've seen her in, even Picard season 2. For a while I was convinced that she was being set up to replace Keifer Sutherland in 24, something I was all for, but that notion was cut short partway through the 8th season.

So tragic news.

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in pl
Horrific Hive Tyrant





 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I've liked Wersching in everything I've seen her in, even Picard season 2.

She was perfect as the Borg Queen in Picard. Very sad news.
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut



London

I was a bit baffled for people living in a post apocalyptic society they aren't better looters. Walk past guns and ammo? Not give bodies a 10 second pat down? Not grab a grenade or two from the floor?
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

Damn... Nick Offerman's going to win an Emmy for that episode, isn't he?


And now Ellie and Joel are wearing their costumes form the game!

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





 Grumpy Gnome wrote:
 H.B.M.C. wrote:
HBO: The Last of Us is sticking close to the source material!
Last of Us Fans: YAY!
HBO: And we've renewed it for season two!
Last of Us Fans: Oh... do you have to?


Yeah, that second season could be a real gut punch.


Yeah, it's a really good story, I just found it to not be paced very well with a lot of really drawn out levels that I lost interest in. I think it will do better as a TV adaptation given how well they've done with the first game, honestly.
   
Made in us
Nihilistic Necron Lord






On the one hand, that was a whole lot of time spent on people who were dead. On the other hand, the emotional manipulation worked because I really had to hold back the waterworks when she read the letter.

 
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran



South East London

Episode 3 was a beautiful episode. Amazing performance from Nick Offerman.

"Dig in and wait for Winter" 
   
Made in us
Haughty Harad Serpent Rider





Richmond, VA

 AduroT wrote:
On the one hand, that was a whole lot of time spent on people who were dead. On the other hand, the emotional manipulation worked because I really had to hold back the waterworks when she read the letter.


In both the game and the show, the segment begins with them on the way to Bill's in Lincoln, and ending with having secured a battery, truck, supplies, and heading to the next segment. While what happens in-between is different, the primary difference between the two is one of theme, and is the reason this letter scene has so much weight.

Spoilers for the game below:

Spoiler:
In the game, Bill is alive when Joel and Ellie get there. You get a little bit of backstory and find out that Bill never opened up and Frank wound up leaving. The game is at this point a fetch quest that's really fun to play to go locate a battery so the trio adventure through the infected town. You actually find Frank's dead body and a suicide note that he was bitten by an infected after getting the battery to leave the town and how much he hated Bill at the end because he never changed and Frank wanted more from life.

So, in the game, Bill & Frank's story is a cautionary tale for Joel that he can't remain emotionally closed off forever as it'll only end in sadness. Bill pushed Frank away, so now Bill is alone.

For the show, they turn the game's negative backstory for Bill into this beautiful story of how even if you love being (or need to be) alone, opening up to companionship and love can make you more vulnerable but make life fulfilling and worth living. Bill goes from just "surviving" day to day, to "living" his life.

So, in the show, it is this lesson that actually convinces Joel that despite his constant failures (Sarah, Tess, etc) that he still has a purpose; with the parallel and contrasts between Bill and Frank's life fully lived (despite all of the hardships) in the last twenty years, and Joel's, one that has only barely been lived in the last twenty years (he couldn't even label what him and Tess were). And in the show they smartly moved Joel's grieving of Tess and accepting of Ellie and his "three rules" to after this decision.

The end result of both the game and the show is that through this segment and Bill's actions Joel finally accepts the goal of getting Ellie to the destination and begins to open up to her and starts treating her as more than cargo.

That being said, I think each version works best for the medium it's in. It would be really jarring to interrupt gameplay if this was a 50 minute cutscene in the video game, or, conversely, if the show was 50 minutes of dodging tripwires and hopping across buses where you're not actually controlling it.
(this coming from someone who has TLOU and TLOU2 in their top five games of all time, with TLOU2 above TLOU)

"...and special thanks to Judgedoug!" - Alessio Cavatore "Now you've gone too far Doug! ... Too far... " - Rick Priestley "I've decided that I'd rather not have you as a member of TMP." - Editor, The Miniatures Page "I'd rather put my testicles through a mangle than spend any time gaming with you." - Richard, TooFatLardies "We need a Doug Craig in every store." - Warlord Games "Thank you for being here, Judge Doug!" - Adam Troke 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Savage Minotaur




Baltimore, Maryland

Per Entertainment Weekly :

Episode 5 will now drop early on HBO Max and HBO On Demand the Friday before its regular Sunday premiere on HBO.


Super Bowl disruption, for those that aren't privy to American sports scheduling.

"Sometimes the only victory possible is to keep your opponent from winning." - The Emperor, from The Outcast Dead.
"Tell your gods we are coming for them, and that their realms will burn as ours did." -Thostos Bladestorm
 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut



London

Hmm, so episode 1, very sad with daughter. Episode 2 a bit much of an apocalyptic muchness. Episode 3 all very great. Episode 4 a bit much of an apocalyptic muchness. Is that the format going forward?
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

Episode 4 was about developing Ellie and Joel's relationship, something I'd say the show hasn't had a chance to do so far because:

1. They only just met in Episode 1.
2. Episode 2 was mostly him resisting.
3. They weren't in Episode 3.

... making Episode 4 the first time this show has been about "The Last of Us" and its central driving narrative.

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in us
Nihilistic Necron Lord






Hm. I wasn’t expecting that to end well, but it was so much worse than I thought.

 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

Yeah. For those of us who knew, it was just this sense of growing dread all throughout the episode.

For what it's worth, in the game Sam isn't deaf, and keeps the bite to himself. Ellie doesn't try to heal it with her blood (this isn't a Kurtzman-esque magic blood scenario) but otherwise her discovery of Sam in the morning (and everything that follows) plays out exactly like it does in the episode.

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in us
Nihilistic Necron Lord






From the reactions I was reading afterwards the consensus seemed to be they dialed Up the emotions by changing a couple things, namely the game had him tell Joel It’s all your fault vs the show’s What have I done? Then after the second shot the game cuts to black while the show focuses on Ellie.

Also of potential note, Sam’s actor is deaf, not just the character.

 
   
Made in gb
Mighty Vampire Count






UK

Just cuaght up with episodes 3,4 and 5

* I thought 3 was.... ok, but not as wowed as many seem to be.
* 4 was very standard post Appocalypse - but kudos to the "bad guys" in particular - they seemed more real than most people in the show so far.
* 5 - Now thats a proper ending! I thought they were going to cop out after the sudden rise of the fungi but they didn't and thats good.

I AM A MARINE PLAYER

"Unimaginably ancient xenos artefact somewhere on the planet, hive fleet poised above our heads, hidden 'stealer broods making an early start....and now a bloody Chaos cult crawling out of the woodwork just in case we were bored. Welcome to my world, Ciaphas."
Inquisitor Amberley Vail, Ordo Xenos

"I will admit that some Primachs like Russ or Horus could have a chance against an unarmed 12 year old novice but, a full Battle Sister??!! One to one? In close combat? Perhaps three Primarchs fighting together... but just one Primarch?" da001

www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/528517.page

A Bloody Road - my Warhammer Fantasy Fiction 
   
Made in pl
Horrific Hive Tyrant





6th is my favourite episode so far. It proves that Pedro and Bella were geat choices for their respective roles.
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

Weird that episode 6 goes back and does what the game did: Show Henry shooting himself and then just cut to black, and then it's months later.

As much as I liked this episode, my problem with this show remains one of adaptation, specifically that of action sequences. I get that the game is a game, and that the fights and stealth sections are there so you have something to do (otherwise you're just watching a movie while holding a controller!). But they can also be interesting and exciting, and the show has seen fit to cut out most of them.

Joel's panic over potentially losing Ellie when she runs off on a horse, and they have to fight raiders, adds to their reunion. Here's it's heavily truncated: He remembers hanging X-Mas decorations on a tree with Sarah, and suddenly changes his mind.

Not everything needs to be a drawn out gunfight or a clicker stealth section or whatever, but you can't cut everything.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/02/26 02:42:21


Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in gb
Mighty Vampire Count






UK

Odd choice indeed. Here is a emotional moment and lets cut to months later so it matters less...great.

Liked the couple at the start - otherwise everyone is kinda dull and forgetable.

Its becoming as dull as Walking Dead.

I AM A MARINE PLAYER

"Unimaginably ancient xenos artefact somewhere on the planet, hive fleet poised above our heads, hidden 'stealer broods making an early start....and now a bloody Chaos cult crawling out of the woodwork just in case we were bored. Welcome to my world, Ciaphas."
Inquisitor Amberley Vail, Ordo Xenos

"I will admit that some Primachs like Russ or Horus could have a chance against an unarmed 12 year old novice but, a full Battle Sister??!! One to one? In close combat? Perhaps three Primarchs fighting together... but just one Primarch?" da001

www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/528517.page

A Bloody Road - my Warhammer Fantasy Fiction 
   
Made in pl
Horrific Hive Tyrant





 Mr Morden wrote:

Liked the couple at the start.

On other forum someone suggested that they could be great for a spin-off. I would definitely watch that!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/02/26 16:06:01


 
   
Made in ca
Rampaging Carnifex





Toronto, Ontario

This was definitely my least favorite installment thus far, though I still think it was a solid episode. I had never played the Left Behind DLC so I went into this completely blind. I was expecting this episode to be Ellie meeting the unsavory characters in the winter portion of the game, which was my favourite part of the story, but looks like I'll have to wait another week for that. It feels like they have a lot to wrap up in the last 2 episodes, but they've done such a great job I think they'll pull it off.
   
Made in us
Nihilistic Necron Lord






I was kind of meh with it. I was briefly confused when they first started the flashback and then it was like Ok, I guess they did have a school after the outbreak still. Meeting the other girl was interesting. But then they spent so long in that mall. Like you know there’s gonna be a zombie in there. Then they Show you there’s a zombie in there. Then the zombie takes Forever to interrupt them and reach the conclusion that even I who have played none of the games knew was coming from a mile away. The Bill/Frank episode of relationship building was so much better, but this was supposed to be the main character.

 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut



London

 Mr Morden wrote:
Odd choice indeed. Here is a emotional moment and lets cut to months later so it matters less...great.

Liked the couple at the start - otherwise everyone is kinda dull and forgetable.

Its becoming as dull as Walking Dead.


So far - Episode 1 good.
Episode 2 - I guess story stuff and whatever
Episode 3 - excellent. Though could be in any post end of the world TV series as is extremely stand alone
Episode 4 - Stuff
Episode 5 - Chap kills himself? I mean that showed its a tough old world and people react like many viewers think how they would act
Episode 6 - I can't remember much. Some sort of happy dam community, Mando gets stabbed?
Episode 7 - I watched on fast forward after a while. I missed little. Using flashbacks to build characters is fine. But this had a zombie level of relentlessness about it. Plus I don't think it added anything to a somewhat unlikable character? As far as I can tell showing you daughter in Episode 1 was simply so you can remember what a good kid to have is?
   
 
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