#tlou remake left behind

[abbysthighs]

Young Ellie is an angel.

[elliesproperty]

ELLIE + FRECKLES

[joyceyayo]

It’s 3am and I’m crying at this why is he wearing Joel’s clothes 😭 omg is it Joel if he got infected day one?? (He would be a bloater obviously tho)

[a-jade-in-jackson]

Me looking for my glasses at night after I’ve accidentally knocked them off the table

[0aurelion-sol0]

10 years old today.

14. 02. 2014 - 14. 02. 2024

[lakemichigans]

if i had to guess, i don’t think the next episode will do the same cutting back and forth between present!ellie and past!ellie/riley, because the only thing happening for present!ellie is a bunch of combat that wouldn’t translate well on screen. so i think what we’ll see is mostly ellie/riley in the middle, with just a little bit of present!ellie and joel as bookends to the episode. i would be REALLY surprised if joel isn’t in it at all; i doubt they would try to keep up the suspense of whether he’s alive or dead for a whole other week

[paigegonerogue]

My Top 5 Shots In Every Episode of TLOU

Episode 2

Number #5

An incredibly intimidating, memorable shot. I love the horde below, and the over-the-shoulder shot with Ellie out of focus. It’s such a terrifying picture, and also really helps drill in how dangerous the infected can be.

Number #4

TIE! Two absolutely gorgeous shots that I thought could work well as a pair in this list since they’re both remakes of shots from the game. These are absolutely breathtaking, and showcase the ruined city so incredibly well. I love the way they use focal point to draw your eyes to specific places in the shot, and I adore the change from the game with the gorgeous golden lighting.

Number #3

I could go on about this shot forever. I adore the way Tess is framed in the arch, and her reflection on the floor. This shot really draws your eyes to the center using the walls, rays of light, and the contrast of the brighter floors and reflection. It’s just excellent.

Number #2

I’ve written about the symbolism of this shot in another post (that ended up being my most popular TLOU post ever), but it’s just absolutely fantastic. Ellie in the light and Joel in the dark, with Tess as a transition between the two. It’s just so incredible and symbolic, not to mention the beauty of the contrast and the sunbeams and the shadows. It’s just breathtaking on so many levels.

Before I reveal my #1, here are some honorable mentions…

Something I’ve mentioned before, and will absolutely mention again, is how much I love the shallow depth of field of a lot of TLOU. I’m an absolute sucker for shots in which danger is blurred out behind a character (that will come up in other posts), and this shot does it so well. I also love the beam of light, and the intensity of the shot. It’s just really cool and well executed all around.

Not only is this shot gorgeous from a set design and lighting standpoint, but we also get the best character in the entire world ever: PIANO FROG! WOOT WOOT!!

I just love the way the sinkhole take up a lot of the shot, and Ellie and Tess are in the foreground. I think it’s really unique, and is this really cool way of making the shot look pretty, but also show scale.

Number #1

Not only does is this shot absolutely gorgeous, but it also works so well from a symbolism standpoint. Ellie lingering where Tess died, not able to push past it like Joel pretends he is, with the burning statehouse in the background, and the stricken, shocked expression on her face. It’s gorgeous, heartbreaking, and an indicator of what’s to come… (Also the only place I could find this shot unobstructed was a ‘Ending of TLOU Ep 2 EXPLAINED’ video, so apologies for the channel logo on the bottom left)

Tune in for ep 3 tmrw!

[francostrider]

‘The Last of Us’ Was Not the First of Anything

With The Last of Us the Game the Series released, the conversation of whether or not this is the greatest game that ever gamed has come up once again. Its position was called into question due to the mixed reaction of its sequel in 2020, and while it still had defenders, people were a lot more open to discussing the original’s flaws. But there are still those who call it the greatest game ever, and award shows (a cancer upon entertainment) love to push that narrative.

As I maintain, this is subjective, and declaring anything the greatest is a shallow viewpoint of any medium and only serves to invalidate the whole rainbow of other works that are, ultimately, not comparable. The sequel was incredibly divisive for that simple fact. You cannot compare The Last of Us, a cover shooter with some expensive cutscenes, to more complex RPGs like Divinity Original Sin 2, or high octane action games like Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, or investigative titles like The Return of the Obra Din. Comparing them is like comparing a lawn mower to a cookie tray. I have not played The Last of Us, and while it may be a competently made game, it holds zero value to me. I’ve heard the praise (the cutscenes), and the criticisms (Ellie not being a factor in gameplay, gameplay is pretty derivative, etc.), but I’m not going to rip into it because it’s not part of the my world.

And fans of TLOU, don’t take that personally. Final Fantasy VII Remake also holds no value to me. As does Lisa: The Painful RPG, most Final Fantasy, Valkyrie Profile, Call of Duty, Fortnite or a lot of other popular franchises of today. I am occasionally surprised by something out of my usual repetiore, like Dawn of War, but with my limited time, I want to put my time to something I am interested in, and I’m well past the point of caring about hype. The games I criticize are the ones I wanted to care about (Fire Emblem Fates) and wanted to do better.

But let’s make something clear: The Last of Us was not a first on any given level.

We all know the meme of someone on Twitter saying that Video Games have been nothing but coin crunchers until TLOU. From my research the “showrunner” quoted (who had been left anonymous) does not exist, and the post was a joke to anger people. But I have gotten into arguments with people who claimed that The Last of Us was the first to be really “narrative focused”. Sadly, this was not the only example.

And, say, aren’t we forgetting a few? If you want to go back to narrative driven games, the earliest I can think of are adventure games, like the Monkey Island series. You know, back in the 80s, early 90s. RPGs (both western and Japanese), have been playing with dialogue and settings and character arcs since the NES days. But the one that comes to mind for myself is a little old game on the PS1 by Hideo Kojima.

Metal Gear Solid for a lot of people (including myself) was the first to put a lot of effort into its cutscenes. Not only that, but it was the first I played to put the voice talent onto center stage. When introduced to a new character, you are given the name of the character and the name of the voice actor behind it. As a kid, I did not think of the voice talent much before that game. Kojima not only wanted you to know the characters and their story, but the voices behind them.

On the shoulder of that game, you have Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. I was more aware of the voice talent coming into this game, but there are some significant details that marry gameplay with the story. Raziel is a fallen vampire, turned soul devouring lich. The bones were torn from his wings and he was cast into an abyss, killing him before an ancient being brings him back. In this form, he needs to devour souls to maintain himself in the living world, or else be forced back into the spectral realm. His torn wings can be used as an impromptu parachute to glide. Devouring greater vampires leads to new powers to allow him to progress further. The vampires need to be killed in specific ways, like water or fire.

The point is Soul Reaver matches the gameplay and story with very little segregation. You feel the world and Raziel’s character in ways most games neglect. There is no forgetting the narrative during its gamplay. This is not the only example of this, but it is one that will always stand out in my mind. And this was all the way back in 1999. This is a classic example of a narrative driven game.

The Last of Us was basically a logical next step of the trends of the time: cover based shooting, refinement of cutscenes and voice work, graphical touches, and so on. It did not break trends or set them. Spec Ops: The Line is very often compared to TLOU, and that came out the year prior, specifically to deconstruct the modern military genre of shooters. We’d seen zombies before, we’d seen main characters fall apart, we’d seen character arcs and we’d seen some real downers up to that point.

This is not to say you cannot enjoy The Last of Us or that the game itself is toxic. By all means, have fun. But what is toxic is the narrative surrounding it. Calling it the greatest does nothing for the gaming industry except decide an arbitrary standard (like the Oscars) of which games are worth looking at. It decrees that only when you’ve worked your animation staff to death will you draw the greater collective’s attention. It implies that every other kind of game is a waste of time. It erases gaming history for the sake of Oscar fueled spectacle.

And most of all, it harms the legacy of The Last of Us itself. This myopic, elitist attitude toward gaming does nothing for a game about the desperate and downtrodden. Because the buzz and hype has become so important to the game, it muddies the message. We do not live in a vacuum: Timing and exposure of a piece is important. One of these days, we’re going to look back on this game more soberly and call into question the culture around it.

Maybe we can finally quit this Oscar bait nonsense and spread the attention around. That would be a first.

[abbysthighs]

Riley and Joel were so inspirational for Ellie.

[elliesproperty]

ELLIE IN EVERY SCENE 28/?

[frankencanon]

[ ID: Screenshots of text posted by @/rahulkohli13 that read as follows,

I made the mistake of reading other people's comments about TLOU. Many masking their homophobia with "why can't it stick to the game?", others just straight up not wanting LGBTQIA representation in mainstream media.

I have two thought about this.

1) Who on Earth wants a shot for shot remake? If I wanted that, I'd just play through the game again. I want an "adaptation". I want TV/film to play to their strengths and give me an alternative take, delve into the human condition, spend more time with character. Otherwise what's the point?

2) The Last of Us' lead is Ellie, not Joel. Ellie is gay. This hasn't been retroactively added. This was further explored in the Left Behind DLC which was released in 2014. This is and has always been a progressive series. Bill was gay too. This *IS* a faithful adaptation. If TLOU is a little too diverse/progressive for you, I think you may need to stop watching. It's been their story since 2014. There are countless stories which avoid representation altogether, I dunno what to tell you, watch them instead.

Side note for my "political agenda" followers:

The arts have ALWAYS been a safe and alluring place for those growing up who felt different from society. Outsiders. Actors, musicians, dancers, painters, poets, writers etc have almost always been a mix of folks from the LGBTQIA community. There is no "gay agenda" in your media...

IT WAS ALWAYS GAY. ART HAS ALWAYS BEEN PROGRESSIVE. WE JUST DONT HAVE TO HIDE IT ANYMORE BECAUSE ITS 2023 AND THERE ARE STILL AN INFINITE AMOUNT OF STRAIGHT WHITE MALE POWER FANTASY MEDIA TO STILL CONSUME. IT HASN'T BEEN ERASED FFS.

You know who doesn't belong in the arts? Weird toxic masculinity jock type homophobic dudes who fucked around in our art classes. And thought drama was gay.

But for some reason they've grown up thinking that we should only be making stuff for them, and keeping all the progressive stuff off their screens. The entitlement is hilarious.

/end ID. ]

a message from Rahul Kohli 

[a-jade-in-jackson]

So I was farting around in photo mode while playing the left behind dlc shortly after finishing the main game, as one does, and then um.

Yeah

[sweetgladiatorking]

Finished tlou: left behind remake on grounded... dont know how but it happened

[all-the-promises-at-sundown]

she’s so small 🥹

[d-parke]

“Oh, babygirl…”

[snapscube]

do you have a list of games you plan on possible playing in the future?

Not a comprehensive one, but here are a few upcoming stream games as of November 6th that are either imminent or that I've teased as being on the docket after the higher profile ones!

Sonic Frontiers (on release)

God of War Ragnarok (on release)

Pokemon Scarlet (on release)

Metroid Prime (probably as soon as I finish one of the previous 3 and have a slot to fill on the schedule)

Resident Evil 4 Remake (on release)

Dragon Quest VIII (some time in early 2023, hopefully)

The Last of Us Part II (no idea exactly when but i'm trying to fit it in sooner rather than later since I've just finished TLOU Part 1 + Left Behind)

Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3 (Will be a platinum marathon + subathon event stream)

I have some other ideas not listed here and there will be a few miscellaneous picks and possibly some canceled/shifted around ideas BUT, again, these are some of the more imminent ones I'm hoping to get to.

(Btw, obligatory Twitch plug and Stream VOD Channel plug if y'all wanna see any of these as they happen)