I'm optimistic now. (Gaming)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Tuesday, February 23, 2016, 22:54 (3199 days ago) @ cheapLEY

I used to believe that. As someone who liked games I constantly graded their stories on a curve compared what I saw and liked in other mediums. Then I played The Last of Us. The bar has been raised.

I'm not sure that really serves as a counterpoint to what he's saying. While I do believe that there is some added value to the story from actually playing as Joel and Ellie and in a certain manner actually experiencing the story sort of through their eyes, I'm not really convinced that The Last of Us couldn't work just as well, or even potentially better, as a movie. It doesn't really do anything that only a game can inherently do at least as far as story is concerned.

So my wife and I recently watched The Last of Us (games as movies version) on YouTube. It's about 6 hours long. It didn't have nearly the same impact as playing the game. TLoU is one of the few games I've played where the developers really leveraged the nature of the medium to strengthen the effectiveness of the story. Watching it still gets the points across, but playing it makes you feel certain developments more deeply. I found I was more tuned in to the subtle shifts the Elie and Joel's relationship while playing. Because it was literally my direct responsibility to keep her safe, I noticed every tiny little change in her behaviour. The way she starts off glued to Joel, hiding behind him for protection, following mere footsteps behind, hiding at the sight of danger... The first time she throws a brick at an enemy, I almost let myself get killed because I was momentarily shocked. "Woah, she's stepping it up!" I thought. Then to later see her actually taking the lead, running ahead of Joel. While watching it, those sorts of significant little details just seemed to go by without making much impact.

All of this isn't to say that TLoU couldn't be made into a good movie, but I've never had a movie affect me the way TLoU did. I feel like Naughty Dog really leveraged the player's active role in the story to create an experience only possible with a game.