Episode 4 emotional impact
After episode 3, it's unwise to have emotional attachment to characters. I wanted to see how Telltale would address this in episode 4, and I'd like to know how other people viewed and responded to the emotional impacts in this episode.
I didn't care about the dog or the zombie kid. Both scenes went on too long, especially the burial. I cared about helping Kenny face the kid and shoot him, but otherwise the kid is just another victim in a long list, and the dog is just a way into the house. I felt bad that the kid starved to death, because that is unusually horrible. However, that didn't make it any harder to put the zombie kid down.
I didn't care about Chuck dying. When he said he would take care of himself, I expected him to die. I was glad he got to use a bullet on himself so that he wouldn't come back as a walker.
I didn't care about Brie dying. Her death was graphically disturbing, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. I agreed with Vernon that I didn't feel much. I liked that bit of writing, as it shows that Telltale realizes that some people aren't broken up bad about these deaths anymore.
I didn't care about Omid (not) dying. I still expect him to die. Even with meds, he probably just got a temporary reprieve. It's nice that he lived, but not a big deal, since he's still on borrowed time.
I didn't care about the pregnant woman in the video, but I liked that it gave insight into Christa's character. After the description of what Crawford was like, that choice given in the video seemed about what someone would expect.
I expect Lee to die in episode 5, so having him bit isn't that big of a deal.
So, Telltale wrote episode 4 as though people should care about things that don't matter anymore, but it wasn't too bad. Instead, the episode dealt with other things, like finding a boat, getting supplies, meeting new characters, investigating Crawford, and having a few small interactions with the stalker.
As for things that I still care about, episode 4 further developed the relationships in the group, and Lee got to be more of a leader. Probably the best emotional impact came from Lee's protectiveness of Clem, especially Lee's response to Clem's abduction.
I didn't care about the dog or the zombie kid. Both scenes went on too long, especially the burial. I cared about helping Kenny face the kid and shoot him, but otherwise the kid is just another victim in a long list, and the dog is just a way into the house. I felt bad that the kid starved to death, because that is unusually horrible. However, that didn't make it any harder to put the zombie kid down.
I didn't care about Chuck dying. When he said he would take care of himself, I expected him to die. I was glad he got to use a bullet on himself so that he wouldn't come back as a walker.
I didn't care about Brie dying. Her death was graphically disturbing, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. I agreed with Vernon that I didn't feel much. I liked that bit of writing, as it shows that Telltale realizes that some people aren't broken up bad about these deaths anymore.
I didn't care about Omid (not) dying. I still expect him to die. Even with meds, he probably just got a temporary reprieve. It's nice that he lived, but not a big deal, since he's still on borrowed time.
I didn't care about the pregnant woman in the video, but I liked that it gave insight into Christa's character. After the description of what Crawford was like, that choice given in the video seemed about what someone would expect.
I expect Lee to die in episode 5, so having him bit isn't that big of a deal.
So, Telltale wrote episode 4 as though people should care about things that don't matter anymore, but it wasn't too bad. Instead, the episode dealt with other things, like finding a boat, getting supplies, meeting new characters, investigating Crawford, and having a few small interactions with the stalker.
As for things that I still care about, episode 4 further developed the relationships in the group, and Lee got to be more of a leader. Probably the best emotional impact came from Lee's protectiveness of Clem, especially Lee's response to Clem's abduction.
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Comments
I did find Chuck, Molly, and Vernon to be interesting and thought Chuck's departure was wasted potential.
Though the ending made my heart sink
I wonder if Ben will make good on that chance. I say Ben will fail miserably at his one last chance for redemption, getting someone killed. Then Lee will realize the mistake he made not killing him.
Interesting. I didn't have much of a response to Crawford. They set themselves up for survival above all else, so I expected them to be monsters who turn out children, elderly, sickly, weak, and force people to have abortions. Their desire to survive by whatever means necessary was something I had already seen with the St Johns. Crawford was just more honest. It would be like if the St Johns told people that any group who wanted to work on their farm had to donate someone for dinner.
It's also interesting that even with all of their precautions, Crawford still couldn't survive. This reinforces that long term survival is a pointless objective in TWD ... or that Crawford was actually too merciful, and should have forced sterilization before pregnancy became an issue.
What I love about this game is that it can really incite an emotional connection to the characters in such a short time. I mean I was satisfied with my crew during ep 2 and seeing half of them get waxed in ep 3 definitely gave me a sulking feeling. And Lee's bite even though not completely unexpected just made me feel like there is no hope left. Poor Clem if she makes it.
I do think that season 2 can still be good even with a new cast. If/once we get closure on this one we will always remember but in the next season can and most likely will do the same thing as this one; create emotional bonds between the characters and audience. As long as you are willing to accept new people, you should enjoy another experience through season 2 because I'm sure they can come up with new situations that hasn't been explored. I think it would be cool to be able to select your character this time, and the other options of playable characters become part of your group.