This video is completely irrelevant. The video game curse was broken YEARS ago with shows like Arcane, Castlevania, Sonic, Cyberpunk Edgerunners and Pokémon. Stop aiding this tired narrative that this "video game adaptation curse" is still a thing.
@@lincolnbeckett8791 totally agree. Seems like a lot of content creators are jumping on this "breaking the video game curse" for views and engagement. I respect the hustle but I was hoping that the take chose a different lane to talk about this show.
One other take worth noting in response to Uncharted failing to live up to expectations is that the Indiana Jones movies, at least the first three, were all quality made films made by filmmakers who were at the top of their game when they were making those films. Even if Uncharted had James Mangold at the helm, he would still have the albatross of those three films stacked against him.
@@lincolnbeckett8791 Those were animated. The old Fleischer Superman cartoons were also top notch efforts and superior in every way to just about every Superman depiction at that point, live or animated. People hold Superman 78 in high regard because it lent unprecedented commercial success to the genre with talented people behind it that gave it an extra sheen of prestige. Batman 66 never did that nor did any of the Saturday morning cartoons, or even the legendary Fleischer shorts.
Recently there have been many great video game adaptations like Castlevania, Arcane, and Cyberpunk Edge Runners, but unfortunate they seem not to get the recognition they deserve just because they are animations
This video basically proves that people don't care about animation, since everyone is blatantly disregarding the fact that the videogame curse has been broken for years and some truly amazing TV shows have been made adapting videogame stories, and these shows are animations
Idk about castlevania but the other 2 are netflix exclusives, meaning that if u live in a country that doesnt translate netflix shows or have netflix in its tv programme then the majority if people who dont speak english wont see them. Hbo however is a tv channel too so the shows get translated into a far bigger variety of languages
Little well known show based on a video game called Pokémon came out over 20 years ago and helped make anime popular globally but I guess that doesn’t count
I think it is worth noting there are 2 TV shows based on video games that were well received; Arcane based on League of Legends, and Cyberpunk Edgerunners based on Cyberpunk 2077. Both were animated shows and they weren't directly adapting the game.
It's probably because they have quality (have not seen them). A common issue in video games adaptions is made by idiots that do no make anything good in general. Since there is quality, gamers disregard the lack of faithfullness in source material. They are not great because it is animated (though it might help a little).
@@thomasnielsen5580 Yeah I don't think they are good because they are animated, it is just something both have in common. I think not being a direct adaptation is a big reason. Although I do think animation can help in some fictional worlds that might be too expensive to create for a live action adaptation. Edgerunners did a different story set in the same city a year before the game took place with new characters. So it didn't contradict anything in-game, it just told a new story. I never played LoL so I don't know how much of it was directly from the lore and how much was new information or contradicting previous information.
Yeah but Hollywood and critics don’t give a rat’s ass about animated series or films. You can have the most perfect, mind blowing, best movie this world has seen. But god forbid it’s animated, it will never see the light of day outside of audience reviews
@@Jestatgothaman the problem is more that channels and reviewers NEVER SPECIFY that they are talking about live actions and seemingly scoff and discredit animated adaptions. Like do they even mention the Sonic movie from a couple years ago?
Even if you aren't familiar with the original games, the show still stands strong enough on its own. It's boosted by strong leading performances from Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, and I liked that they had Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson play supporting roles.
Don't tell me you weren't disappointed when u saw the new "Ellie" lmfao that's just the biggest downgrade i've ever seen in terms of physical appearance
No, i'm not, and Bella plays it well, she got the attidute, the swear, the humor, and you really judging a fictional 14 year old character's appearance over the performance?
It helps that the game is linear in scope. It's going to be interesting to see how studios try grappling with open world games like Fallout, Horizon, God of War, Mass Effect and others. The Last of Us is showing one method of breaking the code, but the formula that TLOU is using won't necessarily work with other adaptations.
Never have I ever sobbed watching a series in a long time. Sarah's death scene really made me tear up! The pain portrayed by pedro in that scene, man! Somebody give him an Emmy already!
The game itself has a great story and the way in which it was told during gameplay does make it perfect for TV/Movie adaptation. I always felt about it as a movie game.
I'm not a gamer, so I just found out about The Last of Us in 2020. I watched playthroughs as if it were a movie/series and it was by far the best thing I watched that year. The show looks like it's going to do the story justice, and I'm excited for non-gamers getting to experience it.
The curse was already broken when Arcane came out at least in the recent times for me. Chris Stuckmann has a recent video about this. I'm also thinking that people who doesn't understand and doesn't try to understand video games automatically thinks games are bad as a source for stories which isn't the case. Also video games has different genres and it's not all violence and it's still a new medium compare to written literature and film/shows which I'm also a fan of. So it's still evolving for the good and the bad like other media and has factors affecting it.
I'd argue the "video game curse" has already BEEN broken. Sonic the hedgehog, Detective Pikachu, Castlevania (a masterpiece) Cyberpunk edgerunners, ect.
@@Awesomesauce1_8_6_4When I saw the thumbnail of this video, Chris Stuckman's video came to my mind right away. I saw it yesterday You're right. It's a great video!
Arcane wasn’t a direct adaptation, but it has to be said that it’s really an amazing show that’s could’ve been so bad but ended up being truly incredible
It will break the curse for a simple reason: The Last Of Us never really was just a videogame (referring to Part I, didn't play Part II for now, can spoiler, have adhd, won't remember). It is a narrative artwork, a piece of art, everything was cured for so long and with such attention to detail that we all remember TLOU as one of the best (if not the best) videogames ever. Not GTA V, not RDR2, not Days Gone. And even if I was scared to complete it for almost one year after its release, during which I totally forgot about even owning it, it's just the only videogame that really hit me inside. We all felt these emotions, impersonating the characters instead of just playing them. And as far as I know, this is very hard for a videogame to do and not the preferred way to produce one.
My bf hates video games and zombie stories. He was so caught up in this as I was watching it. And he felt that scene of his daughter dying (I don’t know anyone who didn’t). And I loved the changes they did to help the story flow for viewers. It didn’t feel random. I understood the intro with the talk show and why we saw Sarah’s day.
I think the main thing missing here about why games don’t translate to films is that for many games the plot is just there to drive the gameplay, writers are not just tasked with adapting source material, they have to flesh it out into a compelling narrative. The Last of Us benefits from having a deep story where the focus is the character arcs, so in my opinion there is a lot more to work with than, for example, Halo.
First great? I get that there’s a long history of bad video game adaptations, but this labeling of “video game curse” neglects the amount of great content that already exists: Arcane, Pokemon, Castlevania, Sonic. Tomb Raider wasn’t even that bad. I just think this “curse” is tired and even puts down video games. Also, maybe we should wait until the entire show has aired?
I’m also getting pretty tired of the term “breaking the video game adaptation curse”. I personally think adaptation is more about the care and love put into the project, in a way Pokémon: Detective Pikachu & Arcane did even if the former is pretty flawed.
I cackled when I saw this topic/title in my subs because Chris Stuckmann just put out a video on the 'video game adaptation curse (and stop calling it that!)' over-influx of discourse on Wednesday. Boy, everything that rises really does converge, doesn't it? And Arcane is art.
I was literally just coming to comment this. Like ffs, clearly nobody who work on this video is truly knowledgeable about video game adaptations if nobody realised that this "video game curse" was already broken years ago.
I've never played the game however if this show where to come out with me not knowing of the video game it definitely stood on its own as a really good show
The "curse" has been broken many times already. Castlevania, Arcane, Cyberpunk Edgerunners. And even if you only count life action adaptations there's detective Pikachu and sonic. I just have a sneaky suspicion that the first group "doesn't count" because they're animated and the second because they are kids movies.
6:49 the irony of saying this while putting up an image of Mortal Kombat. The 1995 film for all its goofiness and toning down was still quite popular at the time and it actually did have involvement of Netherworld. And the film actually helped cement the characters and world a bit better for Mortal Kombat since at the time the story was the background of the game not the forefront. A lot of characterizations after the movie took inspiration from it like how Kano became Australian.
Saying this show will break the video game curse is to disrespect shows like Arcane, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Detective Pikachu, and both live action Sonic movies.
Sonic, Detective Pikachu, Castlevania, Edgerunners, Arcane. All fantastic adaptations of worlds, whereas this feels like the first solid adaptation of a specific story from video games.
The Last of Us is probably my favourite game. I’m so happy that this adaptation is holding up so far. (Now maybe my family and friends will finally play the game too)
You guys are normally spot on, but this is a bad take. Arcane, Castlevania, and CyberPunk: Edgerunners are critically acclaimed, award-winning shows that have already proven that video adaptions can be successful, emotionally compelling, expertly made content. That's not even mentioning successful, if not award-winning movies, like the Sonic movie which grossed $320 million and Pokemon: the First Movie, which made over $170 million in the box office back in the 90s. Can we give up the "video game curse" narrative already?
Castlevania on Netflix, Arcane, Detective Pikachu, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners were all very well received both critically and on audience scores. We need to move beyond the idea that all tv shows and movies based on video games are cursed. It's just not true anymore.
There is no "Curse." These video-game adaptations are treated like garbage because they're given to garbage-directors, written by garbage-screen-writers, played by garbage-actors (sometimes, non-garbage) because they can make a good amount of money through brand-recognition. It’s not a curse. It’s filmmakers and studio-heads not giving a shit.
I think a big key part is that the MATERIAL is strong enough to hold a full HBO series and be expanded upon. So many games don’t have a solid enough plot and characters for this direct of an adaptation honestly!
Honestly I think I will save my judgement for the season finale since god knows we have had many "acclaimed" shows in the past like American Horror Story and Walking Dead that start off fantastic but end up as a dumpster fire by the end.
"The first truly great video game adaptation" Missed the mark on that one. Castlevania, Arcane, and Cyberpunk Edgerunners have all been hailed as breaking the video game adaptation curse. Arcane similarly had folks from Riot heavily involved in the production. Last of Us is working towards becoming proof that this rise in great adaptations can apply to live action as well as animation, which has been the most difficult hurdle thus far.
1. The video game curse should not take into account long-form storytelling adaptations that is unique to The Last of Us. A massive contributor to this "curse" is truly about the lack of narrative storytelling and the ability to capture any depth from the adaptation process. This benefits The Last of Us uniquely, so the only other video game adaptations that you can compare this with is maybe The Witcher and Halo tv shows. 2. The video game "curse", otherwise as it pertains to FILM adaptation should've been broken already by Sonic 2. In 2019 we saw a major shift with Pokemon Detective Pikachu, then we saw arguably the best video game movie to date in 2020 with Sonic the Hedgehog. Then with the critical and financial success of Sonic 2, I honestly think the curse as of right now is broken and already as broken prior to The Last of Us; however.. 3. The significant mainstream attention both financially and critically from The Last of Us in just a single episode, definitely has elevated this genre of adaptation to a level that neither PDP and the Sonic movies have reached. So, this is no question a huge deal for video game adaptations both on the big and small screen. I just slightly disagree that this was the project that "broke the curse" necessarily--that is unless we are retroactively changing the definition or the original basis of the curse itself...
Although debatable if Japan was free from the video game to movie/tv show adaptation curse, am just gonna say, that by trying to keep at it(adaptations)than better adaptations could happen for it, &a firm reminder that just at 50 &then 30 years ago people use to think making movies based on comic books alone, was looked as gambling& a waste of money, but now there are at least 29 more movies plans(taking if you combined their numbers)from DC& Marvel properties,
The Last of Us is the latest link in good video game adaptation in the west. Cause speaking broadly, video games have always had good adaptations across the world & especially in animation.
The so-called "curse" is way overstated, though. There's plenty of movies based on games that did well financially and/or had good (albeit not great) reviews. Chris Stuckmann recently made a great in-depth video about this, I encourage everyone to look it up. All that being said, yes this show is looking like it's going to be the greatest video game adaptation created thus far (although we can't really say that until we've seen the entire season).
As a gamer is quite upsetting keep hearing that tlou is the first good videogame adaptation. That’s unfair with shows like Arcane, cyberpunk 2077, castlevania, omg pokemon which is the longest on-going videogame adaptation, or movies like detective pikachu or sonic the hedghog… but since they are animation they will be understimated. At least there’s still reporters who acknowledge that the videogame adaptation curse is just a myth these days.
Honestly I would love studios just taking certain concepts from video games and adapting it into its own thing,free guy for example clearly took a lot of inspiration from gta in terms of the world and its characters but it told a unique story. I'd love to see them take the idea from horizon zero dawn about robot dinosaurs but change everything else about it so people don't get annoyed. I don't know maybe it wouldn't work but it sounds like a cool idea
Certainly lived up to the intro of the game, hopefully it keeps that momentum. A beautiful tragedy with very human moments. I really enjoyed the pilot and the Last of Us is the greatest “zombie” genre property in fiction.
CastleVania on Netflix was done pretty good so was Arcane and of course the success of Sonic the Hedgehog. I hope the good Video game adaptation to the small screen and big screen continues. I hear God of War is next on Amazon Prime. I am a little worried about that one.
Actually the curse has been broken for awhile if you consider animation: Arcane, Castlevania, Nier, and more have proven that video games can be adapted into linear media. For live action, though, The Last of Us is perfect for a cinematic adaptation.
One of the reasons video game adaptation almost always fail is because the vast majority are movies. It is really hard to cram a 20 or 30 hour plus video game into a 2 hour movie. Heck, half the time, just the cut scenes combined in a video game are longer then the movie. This is why The Last of Us has a lot of potential is because it is a TV show and not a movie. The other thing is dealing with fans expectations. Video games have a lot of nostalgia and good memories associated with it. It is one of the reasons adaptations, remakes, reboots, and long awaited sequels have such huge criticism, no matter if they are movies, TV shows, or video games. The producers are fight against the pre-established image of the franchise in our minds.
HBO Max The Last of Us did NOT break the videogame curse. There were already other movies and tv shows based on videogames that did good either at the box office or streaming with good reviews from critics and audience like both Sonic the Hedgehog movies, Detective Pikachu, Mortal Kombat (1995), Netflix Castlevania and Arcane.
I loved the game and I’m looking forward to watching the whole show. I watched the first episode and I loved that even for me as someone who played the game more than once I was still entertained and surprised by the path the creators chose to take. I mean it’s still tlof and I can see that but it feels new
@@Bom-pff Try broadening your vocabulary without using the word woke. You just come off as an alt-right troll from a trailer park. But I doubt you can...LOL.
Even in 95 there was the anime series Street Fighter II V. If you take into account that the story was created from a fighting game, it's a great achievement, especially in the 90s.
I’m gonna repeat the comment section because TLOU did not break the video game adaptation curse. Castlevania, Detective Pikachu, Arcane, Cyberpunk, Sonic The Hedgehog movies, probably more I can’t even think of. I’ll even go as far as to say the ‘95 Mortal Kombat movie was good in its own right. This is a fine show, don’t get me wrong, but I think putting it on a pedestal as “the savior of video game adaptations” is ridiculous.
The shows acting is amazing. The actors do a great job nailing the characters. But the show (after 3 episodes) lacks action. Where's the battles with the infected!? The struggle is a huge part of the universe. Hoping they have more.
I was so pleased with Episode 1, and I already had high expectations going into it! I think the last test to see if the adaptation truly works is to see how they handle more action-heavy moments. What most disappointed me about Uncharted is that the core game mechanics of battle and enigma-solving were the weakest points of the movie... You can't make a game adaptation and strip it completely of what made the game fun. Based on the trailers, I want to believe the people behind The Last of Us won't disappoint us on that matter either
A bad adaptation will add more characters, scenes, and plots randomly in a copy-paste move. A good adaptation will do what this tv series do. Not only the episode expanded the universe of TLOU, but each new scene, dialogue and characters were placed very meticulously so we could answer through the series what the game couldn’t, like “why was Sarah alone when she woke up in the middle of the night?”
I think the "curse" thing was for the most part just bad films that would still be bad even if they were not adapting a video game. If anything Castlevania broke the curse IMO.
You don’t need to play the game to enjoy the series. i actually watched a gameplay before playing the game and the story was extremely compelling. It was like watching a movie. So I really enjoyed it so much!
Can we please put the 'Games are cursed' discourse to bed? Pokemon, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil have all been huge successes, and there are plenty more. This is just tired.
There is no curse. Journalist really need to put this idea to rest, and find a new way to talk about video game adaptations. The only bad adaptations happened in the early 90s, and we've moved beyond that now.
It was pretty close. I just hope as they near the end of the season they keep it consistent and don’t deviate from the plot. They have a great storyline served to them on a platter. They just have to transition it to a show.
There are few core reasons why video games have never been succesful in terms of quality before the Last of US. 1. Source material: For some reason hollywood writers think they are smarter than the source material. So they make their own shit based on the IP. Bad idea, this has never been a succes (except maybe the Witcher, and the show is mediocre anyway). The primary audience is gamers first, and doing a loose adaption will already alienate the ones familar with the IP. 2. Quality. This one is obvious, but isn't discussed when talking about video games adaptions. All the ones I have seen are just mediocre to bad in quality. Even if they would stick to the source material, it would still be bad, because talent has not created these video game adaptions, but idiots instead. Im thinking of films like AC, Need for Speed, Resident Evil and so on. 3. Picking the wrong video games to adapt: Something not mentioned either anywhere. But lets be honest. There are some games that only works because they are games. I cannot imagine any reality in space and time, where someone could make a game like Need for Speed to a masterpierce like The Godfather. It is impossible, and my assumption is that hollywood producers are aware of that, so they consciously disregard point 2. That gives a big problem. In that way it's no surprise that The Last of US is the first true success. Would Mario or Resident Evil make sense to adapt? Not really. 4. Miscasting: This is only partially right, but it seems to be a big issue in gaming community. I think Uncharted is a great example. It was completely stupid to cast a kid like Tom Holland, who plays Nathan, a character that feels completely different in the games, since he is way more mature in appearance. It therefore disregard point 1. Other issues are general that also applies to ordinary movies, like focus on character development, relationships, thematic intentions and so on. Other games i think would turn out great with the right people involved include Bioshock+infinite (as a film), Final Fantasy VII (as a series), Red dead Redemption part 2+part 1 (series), God of War (film), Death Stranding (film) and more.
The 2 Hitman Movies suffer from trying to address the creation of the character's origin or dismantling it completely, instead of just having fun with it like the game. I watched a video explaining why the games (Specifically the soft reboot starting with 2016's Hitman) are so fun, and it's because of the different ways you can carry out your missions and how unlike such things are carried out in movies in that genre. You can club people over the head with fish and then drag them all into a room and repeat the process. The developers gave so many options to the players to mess around within the games and be downright silly. In that same video, they also talked about the worst level, and that was in the first game (again, 2016) where you have to play it very straight and narrow, and you don't have much room to goof around if at all. The game is considered a Stealth game, but the most stealth-like level is the least fun. In the movies, the first actor, Tim Olyphant, was too high profile and had too much personality to be a good fit. In the second attempt at a movie, the actor, Rupert Friend, was a better fit, but the story was boring and was trying to dismantle the lore. He captured much of the stoic nature of Agent 47, but he lacked an edge and sharpness that you sense from the character while playing the games. He's friendly, but if you're his target, you're going to die. He's not mean about it, just a matter of fact. And Rupert was just too soft. Olyphant had a kind of edge to him but lacked the stoic nature. One reason I like Michael Keaton's Batman portrayal, if you've seen his other movies, you know how crazy his characters can be, so as Batman, he has that same "crazy" about him, but it's locked behind this determined and driven goal to stop the villain. The trauma of his youth was used to forge him into a means to an end, and that's not very different from Agent 47's past. This is just one example I can think of when people talk about video game adaptations, they copy the looks of the characters, but don't understand the characters they're supposed to recreate.
A lot of comments claiming the curse was broken a long time ago, and then start naming cartoons, and flicks like and Sonic, which are still as mid as mid can be. I'm a gamer, and I enjoyed those too; Heck, I've made it a point to watch every videogame adaptation Hollywood makes (as long as it's not by Uwe Boll), but we need to get out of our bubble. If public perception still thinks there's a curse, then guess what? It goes to show those adaptations didn't break anything. The fact of the matter is, The Last of Us, is getting the sort of respect and accolades that other LIVE ACTION game adaptations have never really seen before. I loved Silent Hill, its very faithful and it did similar things TLOU is doing, but it's still seen as a B movie at best. Resident Evil is the most financially successful, and they're still hot garbage. As The Take stated in the video, the goal here is *prestige* on the level of adaptations like The Lord of the Rings and The Dark Knight. Detective Pikachu ain't gonna pull that off. So gamers need to be objective and understand that cult followings aren't going break curses. Far-reaching success will. So you gotta ask, do you want something transcendent, or do you just want something that's eh, good enough. (Arcane was pretty badass, tho)
It's not the first great video game adaptation--there are a handful of others. As with any adaptation, sometimes it'll be good and capture the spirit of the source material and sometimes it won't.
The entire "video game adaptation curse" narrative is trite and tired, and ignores many successful adaptations. Check Chris Stuckmann recent video about it, video ID is S1e0q5Dwh18.
WATCH MORE: Are you a gamer? Here's our Take on why Luigi (not Mario) is the true hero of Super Mario Bros: ruclips.net/video/bnFyXPfGKFs/видео.html
This video is completely irrelevant. The video game curse was broken YEARS ago with shows like Arcane, Castlevania, Sonic, Cyberpunk Edgerunners and Pokémon. Stop aiding this tired narrative that this "video game adaptation curse" is still a thing.
@@lincolnbeckett8791 totally agree. Seems like a lot of content creators are jumping on this "breaking the video game curse" for views and engagement. I respect the hustle but I was hoping that the take chose a different lane to talk about this show.
One other take worth noting in response to Uncharted failing to live up to expectations is that the Indiana Jones movies, at least the first three, were all quality made films made by filmmakers who were at the top of their game when they were making those films. Even if Uncharted had James Mangold at the helm, he would still have the albatross of those three films stacked against him.
@@lincolnbeckett8791 Those were animated. The old Fleischer Superman cartoons were also top notch efforts and superior in every way to just about every Superman depiction at that point, live or animated. People hold Superman 78 in high regard because it lent unprecedented commercial success to the genre with talented people behind it that gave it an extra sheen of prestige. Batman 66 never did that nor did any of the Saturday morning cartoons, or even the legendary Fleischer shorts.
This is such a shit take. The “curse” doesn’t exist and has already been broken by loads of other good media.
Did you guys do ANY research
Recently there have been many great video game adaptations like Castlevania, Arcane, and Cyberpunk Edge Runners, but unfortunate they seem not to get the recognition they deserve just because they are animations
This video basically proves that people don't care about animation, since everyone is blatantly disregarding the fact that the videogame curse has been broken for years and some truly amazing TV shows have been made adapting videogame stories, and these shows are animations
Idk about castlevania but the other 2 are netflix exclusives, meaning that if u live in a country that doesnt translate netflix shows or have netflix in its tv programme then the majority if people who dont speak english wont see them. Hbo however is a tv channel too so the shows get translated into a far bigger variety of languages
YES! Exactly!
Little well known show based on a video game called Pokémon came out over 20 years ago and helped make anime popular globally but I guess that doesn’t count
@@MadameTamma Exactly and let's not forget the Street Fighter movie too
I think it is worth noting there are 2 TV shows based on video games that were well received; Arcane based on League of Legends, and Cyberpunk Edgerunners based on Cyberpunk 2077. Both were animated shows and they weren't directly adapting the game.
It's probably because they have quality (have not seen them). A common issue in video games adaptions is made by idiots that do no make anything good in general. Since there is quality, gamers disregard the lack of faithfullness in source material. They are not great because it is animated (though it might help a little).
@@thomasnielsen5580 Yeah I don't think they are good because they are animated, it is just something both have in common. I think not being a direct adaptation is a big reason. Although I do think animation can help in some fictional worlds that might be too expensive to create for a live action adaptation.
Edgerunners did a different story set in the same city a year before the game took place with new characters. So it didn't contradict anything in-game, it just told a new story.
I never played LoL so I don't know how much of it was directly from the lore and how much was new information or contradicting previous information.
I came to comment this. Edgerunners was good, but arcane was legit one of the best animated series I've ever seen
dont forget castlevania
Yeah but Hollywood and critics don’t give a rat’s ass about animated series or films. You can have the most perfect, mind blowing, best movie this world has seen. But god forbid it’s animated, it will never see the light of day outside of audience reviews
Netflix’s Castlevania broke the curse over 5 years ago and it got 4 great seasons
Say it louder for the people in the back
totally agreed but also that was 5 years ago?? felt like yesterday lol
EXACTLY!
Its animated, so not counted on a live action adaptation
@@Jestatgothaman the problem is more that channels and reviewers NEVER SPECIFY that they are talking about live actions and seemingly scoff and discredit animated adaptions. Like do they even mention the Sonic movie from a couple years ago?
Even if you aren't familiar with the original games, the show still stands strong enough on its own. It's boosted by strong leading performances from Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, and I liked that they had Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson play supporting roles.
I also really enjoyed Tommy and Tess.
Don't tell me you weren't disappointed when u saw the new "Ellie" lmfao that's just the biggest downgrade i've ever seen in terms of physical appearance
No, i'm not, and Bella plays it well, she got the attidute, the swear, the humor, and you really judging a fictional 14 year old character's appearance over the performance?
@@B4CKWRDD I’m going to assume you’re the same age as Ellie before trashing on you too hard.
It helps that the game is linear in scope. It's going to be interesting to see how studios try grappling with open world games like Fallout, Horizon, God of War, Mass Effect and others. The Last of Us is showing one method of breaking the code, but the formula that TLOU is using won't necessarily work with other adaptations.
Never have I ever sobbed watching a series in a long time. Sarah's death scene really made me tear up! The pain portrayed by pedro in that scene, man! Somebody give him an Emmy already!
I agree!
I loved his portrayal of joel miller!
Very excited to see how they would build joel and ellie's relationship!
The game itself has a great story and the way in which it was told during gameplay does make it perfect for TV/Movie adaptation. I always felt about it as a movie game.
I'm not a gamer, so I just found out about The Last of Us in 2020. I watched playthroughs as if it were a movie/series and it was by far the best thing I watched that year. The show looks like it's going to do the story justice, and I'm excited for non-gamers getting to experience it.
Have people not heard of Arcane, or do they not respect Animation?
True, but still is a show inspired by a video game, even if the original material is quite empty story wise. Arcane did break the curse.
Agreed
The curse was already broken when Arcane came out at least in the recent times for me. Chris Stuckmann has a recent video about this. I'm also thinking that people who doesn't understand and doesn't try to understand video games automatically thinks games are bad as a source for stories which isn't the case. Also video games has different genres and it's not all violence and it's still a new medium compare to written literature and film/shows which I'm also a fan of. So it's still evolving for the good and the bad like other media and has factors affecting it.
Anyone else just a little bit afraid after John Hannah talked about how fungus can make us all zombies?
Yea that part sounded way too real 😅
I'd argue the "video game curse" has already BEEN broken. Sonic the hedgehog, Detective Pikachu, Castlevania (a masterpiece) Cyberpunk edgerunners, ect.
Exactly! Can the media please stop reporting on this curse nonsense! 😂
@@rwh44222 IDK if you're familiar with Chris Stuckman, here on RUclips, but he just released a great video on exactly this.
@@Awesomesauce1_8_6_4When I saw the thumbnail of this video, Chris Stuckman's video came to my mind right away. I saw it yesterday
You're right. It's a great video!
Arcane wasn’t a direct adaptation, but it has to be said that it’s really an amazing show that’s could’ve been so bad but ended up being truly incredible
It will break the curse for a simple reason: The Last Of Us never really was just a videogame (referring to Part I, didn't play Part II for now, can spoiler, have adhd, won't remember). It is a narrative artwork, a piece of art, everything was cured for so long and with such attention to detail that we all remember TLOU as one of the best (if not the best) videogames ever. Not GTA V, not RDR2, not Days Gone. And even if I was scared to complete it for almost one year after its release, during which I totally forgot about even owning it, it's just the only videogame that really hit me inside. We all felt these emotions, impersonating the characters instead of just playing them. And as far as I know, this is very hard for a videogame to do and not the preferred way to produce one.
Now I just need to be able of watching it...
My bf hates video games and zombie stories. He was so caught up in this as I was watching it. And he felt that scene of his daughter dying (I don’t know anyone who didn’t). And I loved the changes they did to help the story flow for viewers. It didn’t feel random. I understood the intro with the talk show and why we saw Sarah’s day.
The curse broke a long time ago, guys
Yeah, I mean, we're still getting bad adaptations but there's been some good series and fun films.
I think it might be a recurring curse 😝
@@katherinealvarez9216 let’s focus on the good
@@madnessarcade7447 👍
Really wish y’all would have mentioned Castlevania and Arcane. The Last of Us didn’t break the “curse.”
I think the main thing missing here about why games don’t translate to films is that for many games the plot is just there to drive the gameplay, writers are not just tasked with adapting source material, they have to flesh it out into a compelling narrative. The Last of Us benefits from having a deep story where the focus is the character arcs, so in my opinion there is a lot more to work with than, for example, Halo.
SONIC already broke the curse
First great? I get that there’s a long history of bad video game adaptations, but this labeling of “video game curse” neglects the amount of great content that already exists: Arcane, Pokemon, Castlevania, Sonic. Tomb Raider wasn’t even that bad. I just think this “curse” is tired and even puts down video games.
Also, maybe we should wait until the entire show has aired?
Unpopolar opinion: the second game was good , not at the same level of the First but It wasn't bad at all.
I mean, it was good as a gameplay amazing really, just some parts made me mad 😅
Stop this talk of curses. There's no more video game curse! Castlevania, Arcane, Sonic, Detective Pikachu, etc, are all good to great adaptations.
Arcane definitely! But maybe not quite mainstream enough
I’m also getting pretty tired of the term “breaking the video game adaptation curse”. I personally think adaptation is more about the care and love put into the project, in a way Pokémon: Detective Pikachu & Arcane did even if the former is pretty flawed.
I cackled when I saw this topic/title in my subs because Chris Stuckmann just put out a video on the 'video game adaptation curse (and stop calling it that!)' over-influx of discourse on Wednesday. Boy, everything that rises really does converge, doesn't it? And Arcane is art.
I was literally just coming to comment this. Like ffs, clearly nobody who work on this video is truly knowledgeable about video game adaptations if nobody realised that this "video game curse" was already broken years ago.
One could argue the Pokemon anime itself, it being as longrunning as it is an enduringly popular, counts as this.
I've never played the game however if this show where to come out with me not knowing of the video game it definitely stood on its own as a really good show
The “curse” has already been broken, but yes it’s a great adaption so far
The "curse" has been broken many times already. Castlevania, Arcane, Cyberpunk Edgerunners. And even if you only count life action adaptations there's detective Pikachu and sonic. I just have a sneaky suspicion that the first group "doesn't count" because they're animated and the second because they are kids movies.
Detective pikachu: am I a joke to you
6:49 the irony of saying this while putting up an image of Mortal Kombat. The 1995 film for all its goofiness and toning down was still quite popular at the time and it actually did have involvement of Netherworld. And the film actually helped cement the characters and world a bit better for Mortal Kombat since at the time the story was the background of the game not the forefront. A lot of characterizations after the movie took inspiration from it like how Kano became Australian.
Saying this show will break the video game curse is to disrespect shows like Arcane, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Detective Pikachu, and both live action Sonic movies.
Pretty cool showing clips of the end of TLOU2 without any spoiler warnings ✌🏼😁✌🏼
Sonic, Detective Pikachu, Castlevania, Edgerunners, Arcane. All fantastic adaptations of worlds, whereas this feels like the first solid adaptation of a specific story from video games.
DP is underrated it was widely praised when it released but nowadays people like to pretend it doesn’t exist for some unknown reason
The Last of Us is probably my favourite game. I’m so happy that this adaptation is holding up so far. (Now maybe my family and friends will finally play the game too)
You guys are normally spot on, but this is a bad take. Arcane, Castlevania, and CyberPunk: Edgerunners are critically acclaimed, award-winning shows that have already proven that video adaptions can be successful, emotionally compelling, expertly made content. That's not even mentioning successful, if not award-winning movies, like the Sonic movie which grossed $320 million and Pokemon: the First Movie, which made over $170 million in the box office back in the 90s. Can we give up the "video game curse" narrative already?
Didn’t watch yet but came to say : stop talking about « the curse », it’s been LONG BROKEN. Best recent example is arcane.
Castlevania on Netflix, Arcane, Detective Pikachu, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners were all very well received both critically and on audience scores. We need to move beyond the idea that all tv shows and movies based on video games are cursed. It's just not true anymore.
Agreed u forgot mortal kombat
Watch Arcane. Seriously one of the best adaptations of a video game. Castlevania was also pretty fantastic.
There is no "Curse."
These video-game adaptations are treated like garbage because they're given to garbage-directors, written by garbage-screen-writers, played by garbage-actors (sometimes, non-garbage) because they can make a good amount of money through brand-recognition.
It’s not a curse. It’s filmmakers and studio-heads not giving a shit.
I think a big key part is that the MATERIAL is strong enough to hold a full HBO series and be expanded upon. So many games don’t have a solid enough plot and characters for this direct of an adaptation honestly!
Honestly I think I will save my judgement for the season finale since god knows we have had many "acclaimed" shows in the past like American Horror Story and Walking Dead that start off fantastic but end up as a dumpster fire by the end.
there are a lot of really good animated video game adaptations though (pokemon, arcane, edgerunners, etc.)
"The first truly great video game adaptation"
Missed the mark on that one. Castlevania, Arcane, and Cyberpunk Edgerunners have all been hailed as breaking the video game adaptation curse. Arcane similarly had folks from Riot heavily involved in the production. Last of Us is working towards becoming proof that this rise in great adaptations can apply to live action as well as animation, which has been the most difficult hurdle thus far.
Never thought I would see SammySEGAClassic appear in a Take video.
1. The video game curse should not take into account long-form storytelling adaptations that is unique to The Last of Us. A massive contributor to this "curse" is truly about the lack of narrative storytelling and the ability to capture any depth from the adaptation process. This benefits The Last of Us uniquely, so the only other video game adaptations that you can compare this with is maybe The Witcher and Halo tv shows.
2. The video game "curse", otherwise as it pertains to FILM adaptation should've been broken already by Sonic 2. In 2019 we saw a major shift with Pokemon Detective Pikachu, then we saw arguably the best video game movie to date in 2020 with Sonic the Hedgehog. Then with the critical and financial success of Sonic 2, I honestly think the curse as of right now is broken and already as broken prior to The Last of Us; however..
3. The significant mainstream attention both financially and critically from The Last of Us in just a single episode, definitely has elevated this genre of adaptation to a level that neither PDP and the Sonic movies have reached. So, this is no question a huge deal for video game adaptations both on the big and small screen. I just slightly disagree that this was the project that "broke the curse" necessarily--that is unless we are retroactively changing the definition or the original basis of the curse itself...
Although debatable if Japan was free from the video game to movie/tv show adaptation curse, am just gonna say, that by trying to keep at it(adaptations)than better adaptations could happen for it, &a firm reminder that just at 50 &then 30 years ago people use to think making movies based on comic books alone, was looked as gambling& a waste of money, but now there are at least 29 more movies plans(taking if you combined their numbers)from DC& Marvel properties,
How is Mark Wahlberg a billable movie star in this century?
The Last of Us is the latest link in good video game adaptation in the west. Cause speaking broadly, video games have always had good adaptations across the world & especially in animation.
The so-called "curse" is way overstated, though. There's plenty of movies based on games that did well financially and/or had good (albeit not great) reviews. Chris Stuckmann recently made a great in-depth video about this, I encourage everyone to look it up. All that being said, yes this show is looking like it's going to be the greatest video game adaptation created thus far (although we can't really say that until we've seen the entire season).
I agre this curse is nonsense
As a gamer is quite upsetting keep hearing that tlou is the first good videogame adaptation. That’s unfair with shows like Arcane, cyberpunk 2077, castlevania, omg pokemon which is the longest on-going videogame adaptation, or movies like detective pikachu or sonic the hedghog… but since they are animation they will be understimated. At least there’s still reporters who acknowledge that the videogame adaptation curse is just a myth these days.
Honestly I would love studios just taking certain concepts from video games and adapting it into its own thing,free guy for example clearly took a lot of inspiration from gta in terms of the world and its characters but it told a unique story. I'd love to see them take the idea from horizon zero dawn about robot dinosaurs but change everything else about it so people don't get annoyed. I don't know maybe it wouldn't work but it sounds like a cool idea
Certainly lived up to the intro of the game, hopefully it keeps that momentum. A beautiful tragedy with very human moments. I really enjoyed the pilot and the Last of Us is the greatest “zombie” genre property in fiction.
CastleVania on Netflix was done pretty good so was Arcane and of course the success of Sonic the Hedgehog. I hope the good Video game adaptation to the small screen and big screen continues. I hear God of War is next on Amazon Prime. I am a little worried about that one.
Shoutout to co creator and writer, Bruce Straley, who remains uncredited by HBO.
I wondered if you would cover this show:) great video, as always ;)
Didn’t know you guys have done video game episodes
Actually the curse has been broken for awhile if you consider animation: Arcane, Castlevania, Nier, and more have proven that video games can be adapted into linear media. For live action, though, The Last of Us is perfect for a cinematic adaptation.
One of the reasons video game adaptation almost always fail is because the vast majority are movies. It is really hard to cram a 20 or 30 hour plus video game into a 2 hour movie. Heck, half the time, just the cut scenes combined in a video game are longer then the movie. This is why The Last of Us has a lot of potential is because it is a TV show and not a movie. The other thing is dealing with fans expectations. Video games have a lot of nostalgia and good memories associated with it. It is one of the reasons adaptations, remakes, reboots, and long awaited sequels have such huge criticism, no matter if they are movies, TV shows, or video games. The producers are fight against the pre-established image of the franchise in our minds.
HBO Max The Last of Us did NOT break the videogame curse. There were already other movies and tv shows based on videogames that did good either at the box office or streaming with good reviews from critics and audience like both Sonic the Hedgehog movies, Detective Pikachu, Mortal Kombat (1995), Netflix Castlevania and Arcane.
I loved the game and I’m looking forward to watching the whole show. I watched the first episode and I loved that even for me as someone who played the game more than once I was still entertained and surprised by the path the creators chose to take. I mean it’s still tlof and I can see that but it feels new
For the last fucking time! The video game adaptation curse is already broken! Look it up for Christ's sake! Well played naughty dog!
I’m glad it’s doing well and I hope we get more but it isn’t the first
I'm sure looking forward to see this movie. This looks really promising.
The Last of Us Part II is a masterpiece like it's predecessor.
Nope, part 2 is woke garbage.
@@Bom-pff Try broadening your vocabulary without using the word woke. You just come off as an alt-right troll from a trailer park. But I doubt you can...LOL.
Arcane, and Castlevania did it first.
Episode 3 was one of the greatest episodes of television I have ever seen.
That are a lot of animated shows that “broke” the curse (Arcane, Cuberpunk, Castlevania), but people seem to dismiss animation
Even in 95 there was the anime series Street Fighter II V. If you take into account that the story was created from a fighting game, it's a great achievement, especially in the 90s.
I’m gonna repeat the comment section because TLOU did not break the video game adaptation curse. Castlevania, Detective Pikachu, Arcane, Cyberpunk, Sonic The Hedgehog movies, probably more I can’t even think of. I’ll even go as far as to say the ‘95 Mortal Kombat movie was good in its own right.
This is a fine show, don’t get me wrong, but I think putting it on a pedestal as “the savior of video game adaptations” is ridiculous.
The shows acting is amazing. The actors do a great job nailing the characters. But the show (after 3 episodes) lacks action. Where's the battles with the infected!? The struggle is a huge part of the universe. Hoping they have more.
@the take please improve your music, this is very difficult to digest. otherwise great video as always!
Castlevania, detective pikachu, the sonic movies, ARCANE!! Y’all the curse already ended
I was so pleased with Episode 1, and I already had high expectations going into it! I think the last test to see if the adaptation truly works is to see how they handle more action-heavy moments. What most disappointed me about Uncharted is that the core game mechanics of battle and enigma-solving were the weakest points of the movie... You can't make a game adaptation and strip it completely of what made the game fun. Based on the trailers, I want to believe the people behind The Last of Us won't disappoint us on that matter either
I wish I had played the game before the show (waiting for PC version) not vice versa.
A bad adaptation will add more characters, scenes, and plots randomly in a copy-paste move.
A good adaptation will do what this tv series do.
Not only the episode expanded the universe of TLOU, but each new scene, dialogue and characters were placed very meticulously so we could answer through the series what the game couldn’t, like “why was Sarah alone when she woke up in the middle of the night?”
Really?
Aracane
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Castlevania
It's been broken, but this is live action, so NOW it matters.
Did you guys forget Arcane? The first show to break the curse.
I think the "curse" thing was for the most part just bad films that would still be bad even if they were not adapting a video game. If anything Castlevania broke the curse IMO.
Arcane, castlevania, cyberpunk has already broken the curse.
Hey don’t forget Arcane
You don’t need to play the game to enjoy the series. i actually watched a gameplay before playing the game and the story was extremely compelling. It was like watching a movie. So I really enjoyed it so much!
You seem to be forgetting that the Sonic and Detective Pikachu movies have already broken the video game curse.
But Arcane has not failed
Can we please put the 'Games are cursed' discourse to bed?
Pokemon, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil have all been huge successes, and there are plenty more. This is just tired.
There is no curse. Journalist really need to put this idea to rest, and find a new way to talk about video game adaptations. The only bad adaptations happened in the early 90s, and we've moved beyond that now.
** Uncharted leaves chat **
It was pretty close. I just hope as they near the end of the season they keep it consistent and don’t deviate from the plot. They have a great storyline served to them on a platter. They just have to transition it to a show.
Now let's hope for an adaptation of Spec Ops the Line. Not just in aesthetic but in film and boldness.
Video game writing is generally quite thin because they can rely on environmental storytelling.
“Finally break the video game adaptation curse”
I don’t know if you missed this little show called Pokémon...
Pokémon, Arcane, and Edge Runners being forgotten : ....
Rip Joel !! I hate Golf
There are few core reasons why video games have never been succesful in terms of quality before the Last of US.
1. Source material: For some reason hollywood writers think they are smarter than the source material. So they make their own shit based on the IP. Bad idea, this has never been a succes (except maybe the Witcher, and the show is mediocre anyway). The primary audience is gamers first, and doing a loose adaption will already alienate the ones familar with the IP.
2. Quality. This one is obvious, but isn't discussed when talking about video games adaptions. All the ones I have seen are just mediocre to bad in quality. Even if they would stick to the source material, it would still be bad, because talent has not created these video game adaptions, but idiots instead. Im thinking of films like AC, Need for Speed, Resident Evil and so on.
3. Picking the wrong video games to adapt: Something not mentioned either anywhere. But lets be honest. There are some games that only works because they are games. I cannot imagine any reality in space and time, where someone could make a game like Need for Speed to a masterpierce like The Godfather. It is impossible, and my assumption is that hollywood producers are aware of that, so they consciously disregard point 2. That gives a big problem. In that way it's no surprise that The Last of US is the first true success. Would Mario or Resident Evil make sense to adapt? Not really.
4. Miscasting: This is only partially right, but it seems to be a big issue in gaming community. I think Uncharted is a great example. It was completely stupid to cast a kid like Tom Holland, who plays Nathan, a character that feels completely different in the games, since he is way more mature in appearance. It therefore disregard point 1.
Other issues are general that also applies to ordinary movies, like focus on character development, relationships, thematic intentions and so on. Other games i think would turn out great with the right people involved include Bioshock+infinite (as a film), Final Fantasy VII (as a series), Red dead Redemption part 2+part 1 (series), God of War (film), Death Stranding (film) and more.
Is Arcane a joke to you
Season 2 is gonna divide viewers just like TLOU2 did. Maybe.
Great take!
The 2 Hitman Movies suffer from trying to address the creation of the character's origin or dismantling it completely, instead of just having fun with it like the game. I watched a video explaining why the games (Specifically the soft reboot starting with 2016's Hitman) are so fun, and it's because of the different ways you can carry out your missions and how unlike such things are carried out in movies in that genre. You can club people over the head with fish and then drag them all into a room and repeat the process. The developers gave so many options to the players to mess around within the games and be downright silly. In that same video, they also talked about the worst level, and that was in the first game (again, 2016) where you have to play it very straight and narrow, and you don't have much room to goof around if at all. The game is considered a Stealth game, but the most stealth-like level is the least fun.
In the movies, the first actor, Tim Olyphant, was too high profile and had too much personality to be a good fit. In the second attempt at a movie, the actor, Rupert Friend, was a better fit, but the story was boring and was trying to dismantle the lore. He captured much of the stoic nature of Agent 47, but he lacked an edge and sharpness that you sense from the character while playing the games. He's friendly, but if you're his target, you're going to die. He's not mean about it, just a matter of fact. And Rupert was just too soft. Olyphant had a kind of edge to him but lacked the stoic nature. One reason I like Michael Keaton's Batman portrayal, if you've seen his other movies, you know how crazy his characters can be, so as Batman, he has that same "crazy" about him, but it's locked behind this determined and driven goal to stop the villain. The trauma of his youth was used to forge him into a means to an end, and that's not very different from Agent 47's past.
This is just one example I can think of when people talk about video game adaptations, they copy the looks of the characters, but don't understand the characters they're supposed to recreate.
A lot of comments claiming the curse was broken a long time ago, and then start naming cartoons, and flicks like and Sonic, which are still as mid as mid can be. I'm a gamer, and I enjoyed those too; Heck, I've made it a point to watch every videogame adaptation Hollywood makes (as long as it's not by Uwe Boll), but we need to get out of our bubble. If public perception still thinks there's a curse, then guess what? It goes to show those adaptations didn't break anything. The fact of the matter is, The Last of Us, is getting the sort of respect and accolades that other LIVE ACTION game adaptations have never really seen before. I loved Silent Hill, its very faithful and it did similar things TLOU is doing, but it's still seen as a B movie at best. Resident Evil is the most financially successful, and they're still hot garbage. As The Take stated in the video, the goal here is *prestige* on the level of adaptations like The Lord of the Rings and The Dark Knight. Detective Pikachu ain't gonna pull that off.
So gamers need to be objective and understand that cult followings aren't going break curses. Far-reaching success will. So you gotta ask, do you want something transcendent, or do you just want something that's eh, good enough.
(Arcane was pretty badass, tho)
It's not the first great video game adaptation--there are a handful of others. As with any adaptation, sometimes it'll be good and capture the spirit of the source material and sometimes it won't.
There is always an eighth season...
Break what curse??? Did you guys miss Tomb Raider in 2018 or better yet, Arcane???!
The entire "video game adaptation curse" narrative is trite and tired, and ignores many successful adaptations. Check Chris Stuckmann recent video about it, video ID is S1e0q5Dwh18.
When I saw the thumbnail of this video, Chris Stuckman's video came to my mind right away.
Past adaptations were created new audiences
Take notes, this is how you do an adaptation of a video game.
Another Zombie show that doesn't bring anything new to the table? Yeah this is pure nostalgia from the games
How to make a great video game adaptation? Make sure the people in charge believe in the source material