What is a bad movie? A movie or story without an emotional hook that isn't driven by a true and necessary character arc.
Many movies are plot-driven, and these aren't necessarily "bad" in the sense of being unentertaining or fun to watch. But they're simply an opportunity to eat popcorn and have your eyes and ears filled with candy for an hour and a half to two hours. Nothing wrong with that-- but it surprisingly raises a pretty high bar, when you think about it, which is why so-promised "blockbusters" get more and more expensive to produce with a smaller and smaller real profit margin. Still, that's what the studio system is producing these days, which is why they go for marketable IP rather producing cheaper, more emotionally accessible stories about people struggling with their own characters and issues, dealing with those issues in a satisfying and emotionally satisfying way, and leaving audiences with something to talk about other than those awesome explosions and CGI effects.
There are two types of narrative games in my humble opinion-- those that's sole purpose is to structure a narrative that brings you to awesome fights and set-pieces that show you something you haven't seen before and challenge your gaming skill set, and those that have a core emotional narrative that invests you in the character, their trauma and growth, and the changes the story brings about in them-- and you-- alongside an exciting gameplay.
An example of the second is "Horizon Zero Dawn", and an example of the first is its sequel, "Horizon Zero: Forbidden West."
The original game has a core, heartfelt, basically character driven story about a woman in a particular place in a particular time, struggling to learn her place in the world, who she truly is, where she comes from, and what she's here to achieve. These are all emotional hooks, which on a human level we all relate to. It makes her journey matter. Would the game be entertaining without that? Sure. But it would be basically emotionally disconnected and ultimately just another great action game.
The proof of that is its sequel-- which feels in every way like a lovely retread of the first game, but without any emotional stakes. At the end, there are revelations-- but they're plot revelations, not emotional revelations. That makes a huge difference.
"The Last of Us," both original and sequel, have strong emotional cores with real emotional stakes-- and the revelations encountered by the player are based on emotion and character more than plot (though plot as always in any story plays a vital and necessary element).
I won't get into spoiler territory, but if you've played the game and/or watched the HBO series, you know what I'm talking about. There's a vast difference between character driven action and a narrative that's purely plot driven. ("Resident Evil," as a whole, is one of my favorite narrative games-- but really, at the end of any installment I couldn't give an emotional hoot about Claire or Ada Wong or Chris-- they're pretty much interchangeable movable action figures. Which is fine and fits the game's purposes and is probably part of the reason I enjoy it. Who knows?)
Anyway, the success of "The Last of Us" in avoiding the supposed "video game adaptation curse" lies not in the excellent adaptation-- but in its origins as an an excellent emotional based character driven story in the first place.
It's really just that simple.
There is no "Video Game Adaptation Curse"
Dear Mr Conway, After some messing about on the internet, I havent been able to ffind a way to get in touch with you directly, so Im sending this in the hope that you get to read it. I'm a 48 year old comic fan based in the UK. Last year, I decided to spend a bit of time improving my collection of bronze age DC- I researched for issues that looked fun and completed some runs from my childhood. Over the Summer, Ive had the great pleasure in reading them all. There have been a lot. Some are great finds and some are unreadable trash- but it was only when I started to dig into them that i realised something: All my favourites were written by you. Not only that, but it was only when I saw the collection as a whole that I realised what an incredible quantity of quality writing you'd provided. You added character, emotion, imagination and pathos to so many comics that could have been so disposable. I appreciate there were some other great writers around at the time- but from the very first two comics I ever owned (JLA 191 and detective 504), you have been there providing the best stories around. I know this time at DC is just part of your many acheivements, but it's the part that closest to my heart and I wanted to thank you for the many years of entertainment. It was stories like yours that inspired me to become a storyteller myself (albeit a very different type of one).
My final point is the very longest of long shots- but if a life spent in creativity has taught me anything, its that it's always worth shooting for the moon. Do you still ever take commissions? Would you possibly consider writing a paid story? Even just one or two pages? I dont expect this to be possible, but it would be a dream come true, so I had to ask. If its of even a bit of interest or if you'd just like to say hi, contact me on professor-elemental@outlook.com. You can see some of the silliness that you helped inspire by googling Professsor Elemental or heading to youtube. Thank you for your time and I hope that life is treating you well. All the best, Paul/ Professor Elemental
Could not agree more, Gerry. I feel like video game adaptations are where superhero adaptations were about 25-30 years ago. And in both cases, it seems like getting a good one is dependent on having a critical mass of folks who grew up with them in positions where they have the influence to shape the way that they're adapted, instead of having people in charge who are neither familiar with nor nostalgic for the source material.