We’re past the days when every video game to film adaptation proved a massive dud. Some TV Shows based on games are genuinely great.
TL;DR of the article - Arcane > Cyberpunk Edgerunners > Castlevania > Sonic Boom > The Last of Us > The Witcher.
TLOU is criminally low on this list. Easily top 3, and personally, I’d put it at 1.
Yep, they knew, that’s why they started with a disclaimer
Please don’t get angry for seeing The Last Of Us merely at number five in a ranking about the best things of a specific kind ever made.
It’s definitely good, competent, and very ugly or beautiful whenever it wants to be. Just like the game, it picked the perfect couple of actors to give life to the characters that could carry the massive weight of both the game’s drama and the hopes that more video games could get prestige TV treatment in the future.
But is it really that big of an achievement? It feels like a very safe adaptation of a game that already played like a movie in the first place. HBO’s The Last Of Us is good, but you know what else is good? Watching a video compilation of the cutscenes from the first game on YouTube. I wish we could see a future season starring a new group of main characters on a completely different adventure. Perhaps you can get Henry Cavill to star in it. I heard he likes games.
Not a bad reasoning, I feel the same - it was good but safe. Whereas Arcane and Edgerunners came with original stories, and they’re really good on their own.
Was it really as “safe” as the article claims though? They diverted a full episode early in the show to have an hour long homosexual romance episode that completely changed the character paths and storyline for a major section of the game. I’m not really sure what “safe” even means in the context of the article’s argument.
And Sonic Boom deserves to be higher than it because…?
I don’t know, I haven’t watched it.
Sure… Maybe not number 1 (I think Arcane may have been better), but below Sonic Boom? Yeah, no.
I’d give it 2. Arcane is number 1 hands down.
I hate to be a conspiracy theorist about stupid shit like this, but I can’t not believe that Sonic Boom being directly above TLOU is a ploy to generate engagement from people that will inevitably disagree. There’s no engagement like disagreement, right? (I have fallen for the trap)
Probably a case of TLOU having less impact for those who already played the game compared to Sonic Boom which is those characters in situations that are new compared to the games.
No, because you are posting on a non profit forum, so the outrage clicks don’t help them.
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They obviously didn’t make that headline to be reposted on Lemmy. It’s for Reddit, Twitter, Google etc.
Halo not even in the list and it shouldn’t be
I watched halo the way I watch most films made of books I’ve read. Going in treating it as its own thing. And I rather enjoyed it. The whole not showing his face wasn’t even something in the full story. Just something they backed in to accidentally in the games. The books have him with his helmet off a lot early on even after getting mjolnir.
But it probably isn’t top 5. That being said, I love sonic stuff and I’m not sure boom is either.
From what I read it was specifically made by people unfamiliar with the Halo universe to bring Halo to more people. A good idea on paper, but hiring writers who never played the games, never read the books, and were told to stay away from the source material? Not only did it not attract new fans but it also kept die-hard fans like myself away, so there was no one else to recommend it.
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The argument they made is complete shit too, saying that it’s basically just a a shot for shot remake of the cutscenes.
Did the author play the same games or watch the same show I did?
It’s pretty loyal to the source material but a replica it isn’t.
I won’t argue with Arcane being where it is, because that animation was amazing, especially that Jinx vs Ekko fight scene, but TLOU definitely need to be placed higher. I’d reorder most of the list - right choices, slightly off ranking.
I distanced myself from Riot and anything concerning it, but I watched Arcane because of the animation. Then the writing ended up being damn good too.
Having difficulty on a second watch though. Don’t know why.
arcane is more certainly better than tlou and I really enjoyed both
Actually both are bad, the 2012 animated Mass Effect show is obviously number 1
Hey now, don’t count out that Dragon Age anime about Cassandra!
Long ago I watched the anime based on Tales of Eternia (the Namco “Tales of” game that was also called Tales of Destiny 2 in the US for no good reason, it’s not a sequel).
The anime is awkwardly shoehorned in a very specific and inconsequential part of the game (like, one that would last about 2 minutes). Nothing meaningful really happens in the series. Because of the way it’s framed, I also estimate its entertainment value for someone who didn’t play the game at basically zero.
Oh yeah, there’s a freaking swimming contest out of nowhere at one point. Women only of course. I’m sure it had nothing to do with having female characters in swimsuits for a while.
That certainly was one of the anime series of all time.
I haven’t watched Sonic Boom or TLOU.
As for the Witcher, I’ve watched a few episodes and found the writing and direction just cringe. It’s also based more on the books than the game as far as I’ve seen (which I’ve read and liked).
I’m not a Castlevania fan. I’m judging solely the show here. Watched 2 seasons and gave up. Visually it does make clever use of resources, they’ve nailed the colour and bloom effects and they can pull off action scenes with very limited framerate animation so hats off for that, however the characters go off model frequently and it shows that it’s hastily made ( budget reasons I guess). The writing kills it for me, the characters and story feel very shallow.
Arcane is a really good show. Solid writing, acting, action, animation, and it’s also visually stunning. There was a lot of talent and effort dedicated to it and it shows. At the time of its release the painterly style was very innovative as well the techniques used to achieve that. I would also vote it n1.
Arcane in top spot
Opinions dicarded
Arcane was really good, though? Even if you don’t think it deserves the top spot, you still have to give it that.
I watched the first few episodes and it didn’t really catch my attention, honestly it mostly just felt like a slightly above-average generic fantasy anime.
It takes the first few episodes to really set everything up on the board so it can then start moving the pieces, to be fair.
The last few episodes are just massive gut punches it took all that set up to give impact to.
But to each their own. Not everything is for everyone.
Yeah, it was great.
Not as good as TLOU though.
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I think I’ve watched arcane and edgerunners like 3 times each, they’re so fucking good
might watch edge runners tomorrow
I recently watched Twisted Metal and it was pretty darn good. Who doesn’t love cars with guns?
Agreed. I was not expecting it to be as good as it was. I really hope they make a second season.
The Doom movie was the best TV show based on a video game.
No mention of the multiple award winning Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? This list is a farce!
Not a mention of defiance. Great game. Great show.
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I wonder why they picked Sonic Boom over Sonic Prime? I feel like Sonic Prime is a huge step up over Boom.
I agree. I’m also annoyed at gaming media giving sonic games shit. I understand there were many many bad games, but some of the most recent stuff is quite enjoyable. I love frontiers. Mania is great. Sonic forces was a bit goofy but fairly enjoyable. Murder of Sonic is fun and free. Sonic generations (especially the 3ds version) is cool too. And they made origins more worthwhile all while prepping for a big new classic sonic game with multiplayer that I’m pretty hyped for.
I mean the other end of the spectrum is something like Metroid. Almost all of the games are bangers (not you whatever that third person shooter one was called) but are released few and far between.
