The uselessness of diplomacy is really hurting the stories of the Walking Dead titles [Spoilers]
I recently finished Season 3 and looked up the various changes the different choices brought and was pretty impressed with the amount, there was a lot of stuff that didn't even seem like it was a result of my choices, especially when it came to Clementine's actions.
However once again, Diplomacy was utterly useless, there's no incentive to try and be diplomatic unless you're roleplaying a certain mindset. If there's going to be a fight it'll happen regardless of whether you try to be peaceful or if you antagonize the other party. There's never been a conflict you can avoid through words in the Walking Dead Titles, from your interactions with Carver in S2 to Norma's crew in Michonne, you end up fighting no matter what choice you make. Most players will pick up on this if they've played a few titles and lose that tense feeling of making those choices.
I recall feeling this way in Episode 4 of Season 3, where you get the option to go along with Joan's deal or kill her. When given the choice I knew there was going to chaos no matter how diplomatic I tried to be. So I ended up picking what was the most satisfying (killing Joan) because I knew that it didn't matter and when I looked up the other outcome I was right, David starts a fight if you don't start the fight.
But that didn't bother me too much, what really bothered me was the fact that in Episode 5, no matter what choices you made David attacks you and leaves the group. And if the wiki is correct, it doesn't matter how much you respected his marriage to Kate or how much you agreed with him and followed his plans, he turns on you no matter what dialogue choices you made. I didn't make those choices in my playthrough, but if I did I would be livid.
How long will players who put 2 and 2 together be expected to lie to themselves to keep the choices tense? I feel this problem is worse for Walking Dead compared to Telltale's other games since Walking Dead is all about tough choices and consequences.
Comments
Yeah, ANF was really bad about that. I know it technically makes perfect sense for David, but really he, determinately Gabe, and especially [Head of Diplomacy] Joan going off when they do was mainly forced drama, or in Joan's case, character derailment.
Also, it was Clint's deal, not Joan's.