I can't believe that people are upset with the ending. The greatest thing about this game is that you are placed in a world that keeps you on your toes pretty much at all times to add a sense of realism to the experience. It would diminish that feeling if you knew that you were invincible. Too many games, books, and movies these days have a happy ending, and it's nice to have some variety at times.
Great work Telltale! I'm looking forward to whatever's in store for Clementine in the next season.
exactly my thoughts and the word i was searching (sorry i'm french ), the end is completly rushed and there is so much questions without answers.. when i've seen the credits i've thought "what the f*ck?? that's it?" it's not really about the dead of Lee or not but the way things have been done, the scenario was really great for all episodes but for this one it feels like it's been rushed and I was really disappointed..
What questions are there? Any questions that I can think of would be explained at the start of the next season.
For me, Campman was the most disappointing part of the finale. Yes, it was nice to have the revelation about how looting the station wagon impacted someone else, but as Chuck's Guitar pointed out, the character was way too underdeveloped to make a viable final nemesis.
Also, I found his particular brand of crazy more annoying than scary. Between the 'I may be a monster, BUT AT LEAST I'M NOT AS BAD AS YOU!' act and the talking to the zombified head of his wife I found zero tension/sympathy in the scene because I was too busy rolling my eyes. I think Campman may have replaced the deranged grocery store manager in Dead Rising as the lamest random 'psychopath' in a zombie video game.
The ending touched me deeply, I hated knowing that Lee was gonna die eventually. I hate that I lashed out at Kenny when he was only trying to help, and I hate that Clem is not with Lee anymore.
I told her to walk away from me, and save her bullets. It broke my heart when she said her goodbyes.
Only thing I was dissapointed with, was that episode 5 felt short. I wish it was longer.
I can't believe that people are upset with the ending. The greatest thing about this game is that you are placed in a world that keeps you on your toes pretty much at all times to add a sense of realism to the experience. It would diminish that feeling if you knew that you were invincible. Too many games, books, and movies these days have a happy ending, and it's nice to have some variety at times.
Great work Telltale! I'm looking forward to whatever's in store for Clementine in the next season.
What questions are there? Any questions that I can think of would be explained at the start of the next season.
I think you're missing the point. Most people are fine with the ending being sad. What they are disappointed about most is that none of their choices actually *meant* anything in the end. Characters die at the same point in the story regardless of who comes with you and what decisions you make.
Doing so makes all those decisions ultimately pointless from a gameplay perspective. Why bother having choices that have to be made with a timer clicking down when ultimately sitting back and saying nothing leads to the exact same outcome?
If the writers don't want to have multiple endings to their story, then they shouldn't be making a game that claims to tailor the story based on players' choices. They should write book, comic or movie.
I'm getting tired of seeing games that make grandiose claims of choice and consequence for it to all be smoke and mirrors. There are games that tell good stories that have actual choice and consequence, and I (for one) will not let TTG slide just because the story was told well. It was a good tale, but they could have done better with the game side of things.
Edit: I was ready to vote TWD game of the year until the ending showed that this was just another adventure game in the end. Telling a good story is not enough to be GotY in my book. It also needs to be a great game. The gameplay I was sold on - your choices matter - ended up not being delivered on enough to impress me. It was a great game, but like so many games this year it tripped over just when the ending was in sight.
im only dissapointed that the game ended with a cliffhanger
ya thats why i always thought that it was going to be a problem to continue the story of clem or any member of the group of season 1, They had to end up with a cliffhanger.. can just hope season 2 comes next month lol.
In my opinion Episode 5 was the best episode of the season.
I would rate them: 5, 2, 1, 4, 3
So far I have only played through the final episode once and I was satisfied enough with it.
I have one thing to beg of Telltale for Season 2 though...
In order to have a compelling story you must have compelling characters. This is something that this game lacks as just when character development might occur zombies come barging in and cause a ruckus. Now, I came into the game wanting a Walking Dead game and on some fronts it was delivered but on others I am left wanting.
Figure out some way to give depth to the secondary characters next time around.
The only 3 decently fleshed out characters are: Lee, Kenny, and Clementine.
Since Lee and Kenny both passed we are left with only 1 of the half-way fleshed out characters to continue the game for Season 2.
I don't want to say that much of the time was wasted in Season 1 because I did enjoy hearing Lee talk about Newspapers and other random objects he came across but with the most developed character thrown in the trash where does that leave us off for Season 2?
It leaves us with a mostly fresh start which I honestly see as sort of semi-pointless.
I say this all as a fan because I will be throwing money at any new episodes that come out but I just wish that you could retain the Walking Dead spirit without killing half of the cast off in each episode while trying to develop characters and making a few more non-fatal tragedies occur.
If I had one other wish it would be episodes once a month but apparently it was not meant to be (even though it's part of the reason I bought the game...)
There were a bunch of problems with the narrative arc of season one but the finale was fine by me.
I called out Telltale that they weren't going to kill Lee midway through the season and they did it. Can't argue with that (even if it does damage the narrative in many ways).
So yeah, tighten up the narrative and release quality monthly episodes and you're golden.
I appreciate the work you Telltale folk are doing. Keep up the good work and hopefully we see some better quality episodes next season with a more cohesive arc.
Aww come on, fudge you telltale! You could at least have let Lee survive if we chose to chop off the arm. Another choice that didn't matter at all in this game full of pointless choices.
Here we go again, the ending sucks because the main character dies! It's mass effect/ L.A. Noire all over again. Just because not everyone lives happily ever after, what is very unlikely in a zombie apocalypse, doesn't mean the ending is bad. It's literature and it makes for a worthy ending for this great story.
Here we go again, the ending sucks because the main character dies! It's mass effect/ L.A. Noire all over again. Just because not everyone lives happily ever after, what is very unlikely in a zombie apocalypse, doesn't mean the ending is bad. It's literature and it makes for a worthy ending for this great story.
I think it's less about his death and more about player choice. Some people think that when a game gives you player choice, you should be able to remake the story any way you like. Of course, this is pretty contrary to life, where most of what happens to you is completely out of your hands, regardless of the choices you make.
Here we go again, the ending sucks because the main character dies! It's mass effect/ L.A. Noire all over again. Just because not everyone lives happily ever after, what is very unlikely in a zombie apocalypse, doesn't mean the ending is bad. It's literature and it makes for a worthy ending for this great story.
Again Mass effect's ending sucked because it wasn't based around the idea that made the series so popular, Choices. You could choose from what you were going to say to nail your alien blue partner to decide what was going the fate of an entire planet.
All that went through the toilet at the end of making the ending leaving you a everyone dies or everyone lives ending despite everything you had to go through to make that.
The countryside thing was kind of bittersweet I thought. I would have liked it to reveal that Clementine was living on a farm in the countryside with Christa and Omid, then it would have wrapped up their story well. I don't like the thought of Clementine fending for herself after everything that happened, and I really hope that was Christa and Omid on the hill. Apart from that I loved it.
I think it's less about his death and more about player choice. Some people think that when a game gives you player choice, you should be able to remake the story any way you like. Of course, this is pretty contrary to life, where most of what happens to you is completely out of your hands, regardless of the choices you make.
I just don't get is why people are surprised about this at the end. There are so many events that occur in the game regardless of what you choose. If you ultimately have no power to control whether or not your group will loot a station wagon why would you be able control the fate of your character?
Why are there still people complaining about the "choices" thing, the game is tailored to the choices you made, meaning the plot will stay on course, your choices will only alter dialog and scenes, not the entire plot.
It's like tailoring a shirt, sure you'll get different sizes and what not according to your measurements, it will still be a shirt, not a freaking jacket.
I, for one, am satisfied with what Telltale did with the game
I actually really, really wanted this ending - so much so that when Kenny wanted to lop my arm off, I said hell no, just on the off chance that it ushered in some touchy-feely rainbows and unicorn farts ending. I wanted everything to culminate in the heart-wrenching death of Lee, ultimately for the protection of Clementine.
Only problem i had at the ending was the fucking two people in the distance...its assumed its omid and christa but what if its not? Shitty cliffhangers i hate them.
The perfect ending would of been clem meeting up with them two, alas.
Out of curiosity what was the last words you said to clem? Likely unimportant, but interesting nonetheless - i figured "ill miss you" would be unhelpful in that situation so reminding her to not be afraid more helpful.
Edit : If you carry on with season 2 telltale which im sure you will, remember DONT FUCK UP THE ACCEPTED GAMEPLAY, everytime we get a sequel to a great game, not necessarily from you, gameplay mechanics change etc, please just continue making great games dont change the formula.
Here we go again, the ending sucks because the main character dies! It's mass effect/ L.A. Noire all over again. Just because not everyone lives happily ever after, what is very unlikely in a zombie apocalypse, doesn't mean the ending is bad. It's literature and it makes for a worthy ending for this great story.
Oh here we go again, the ending is great because it's a hipster "the main character must die!!!!!!" ending.
Y'all need to stop immediately looking for all the reasons to hate the game. I've been over this before so I'll do it one more time, and then you guys can pretend like it isn't true to feel better about feeling worse about episode 5.
You never got to change the story with your choices, and that was never advertised, not even once. You got to tailor your experience to your decisions, which is what happens all throughout the series. I wish there had been a little more going on under the hood but they made most of the flavor dialog feel genuine and I rarely felt like I was totally without impact to the story. The only reason some of you feel that now is because you either came in with the misconception that it was a choose your own adventure book or you tried to replay the game and ruined the mechanics for yourself. It isn't a game about re-playability, it's an adventure game where you make the best decisions you can and you still get screwed in your very own personalized way.
I think the vague ending was the best possible ending but that's just my taste for the grimdark speaking. The best and only possible ending involves Clementine being alone and scared, knowing everyone she ever loved is dead, more afraid of humans than walkers. That's The Walking Dead for me, and that's what makes it great. I think it would have been a terrible cop-out to give you any kind of closure or a happy ending, and I'm super happy they left it as bleak as they did.
That said, there were definitely some parts of the game that felt contrived. Saw off your own arm without meds and just walk it off? Talk through a crowd of zombies like Conan the Barbarian? Immediately regrouped with your party even though you chose to go alone? Meh. Weak writing, but it didn't ruin it for me like 4's writing ruined it for me. I'm happy with what we got either way.
GOOD EPISODE, FINE WITH LEE DYING, SO I DON'T EVEN WANNA HEAR THAT SHIT FROM YOU PEOPLE LIKE "AWWW UR JUS MAD DAT LEE DIED IT DA WALKIN DED PPL DIE ALL DA TYME DEAL W/ IT MURMUMUR!!11"
EAT A DICK.
EPISODE WAS GREAT. I THINK THEY DID HIS DEATH REAL GOOD.
ONLY THING THAT PISSES ME OFF IS THAT UR DECISIONS DON'T MEAN SHIT. LIKE WTF? CHOP ARM OFF? STILL DIE. WHO DID YOU BRING WITH YOU? DOESN'T MATTER WE ALL GON DIE ANYWAY SMH.
SECOND THING IS THAT WHEN LEE DIES, THE SHIT IMMEDIATELY GOES TO CREDITS. WTF? CAN I SEE HOW CLEM MAKES IT OUT? CAN I SEE LEE TURNING INTO A WALKER IF I TOLD HER NOT TO BUST A CAP IN MY DOME?
LASTLY, THE MOST ANNOYING THING OF ALL IS THE DAMN ENDING. WTF IS THE MEANING OF THIS CLIFFHANGER SHIT? CLEM STARING AT TWO BLACK SHADOWS WALKING AND SHE'S STARING AT THEM SHAKING LIKE MICHAEL J. FOX. WTF?
You never got to change the story with your choices, and that was never advertised, not even once. You got to tailor your experience to your decisions, which is what happens all throughout the series. I wish there had been a little more going on under the hood but they made most of the flavor dialog feel genuine and I rarely felt like I was totally without impact to the story. The only reason some of you feel that now is because you either came in with the misconception that it was a choose your own adventure book or you tried to replay the game and ruined the mechanics for yourself. It isn't a game about re-playability, it's an adventure game where you make the best decisions you can and you still get screwed in your very own personalized way.
I actually really, really wanted this ending - so much so that when Kenny wanted to lop my arm off, I said hell no, just on the off chance that it ushered in some touchy-feely rainbows and unicorn farts ending. I wanted everything to culminate in the heart-wrenching death of Lee, ultimately for the protection of Clementine.
I have to agree with this, but there are certain aspects of the ending I did not like which was that Lee miraculously saved Clemintine during the Walker encounter and while I have already complained about this I still stick by the fact that the vase should have rendered Lee unable to help Clemintine (due to it causing him to go unconscious) and perhaps the scene I am portraying would be that of a death scene or an alternate ending whereas the player failed to recognise the immediate danger to Clemintine, rather than ensuring protection against a certain problem which might not even pose a threat, if the player had trained Clemintine well. Otherwise I really liked the ending even though Lee died, there is a glimmer of hope as Clemintine (and even Christa and Omid) will carry on the story from Season 1 which makes the existence of Season 2 worth it and I felt that the ending was very much like the Road whereas the father prior to his death, would let his son live on, giving him his gun and warning him not to trust anyone.
With regards other things I didn't like about the episode is the fact that the choice of who comes with you on the rescue mission of Clemintine is absolutely worthless as it lands you in the exact same path. In my opinion the game never should have brought you back to the manor as the Marsh House was one of the places to go and I feel that if Lee went solo or went with other characters and leaving one at the house, then this group should at least feel secure about the boat and focus on getting Clemintine which is the main story of Episode 5.
Campman was a little disappointing as well as he seemed to be a very interesting Mystery Character prior to our meeting with him as we knew so little about him except for the few times he has contacted us and when we actually do get to meet him, rather than being an interesting figure with some sort of agenda for Clementine, he takes the same route as Vernon and takes Clementine on the basis that he feels that Lee is unfit to care for her and that he is a better father figure. However I felt the back story we got on him was pretty good although I do wish he would stop pretending to be Hershel by entering this fantasy that his wife is alive as shown by him talking to her animate head (she is a walker). To finish this statement I would like to say that at least the choices made in previous episodes had a big impact, although this was mainly on how this guy thinks of Lee rather than it having a physical effect on the story or the events that play out.
It just seems like it's another spin from something else Gary Whitta wrote about a guy that finds a girl, trains her to survive, then dies. What was that called again... Oh right The Book of Eli. Same story, post apocalyptic with the main character dying & the support character taking on the mantle.
Also with The Walking Dead comic book hasn't Rick trained Carl enough so he can take over? Why is it Rick is still alive? Why does Lee have to die? It also seems like a lot of the stuff in the game has already happened in the comics!
It just seems like it's another spin from something else Gary Whitta wrote about a guy that finds a girl, trains her to survive, then dies. What was that called again... Oh right The Book of Eli. Same story, post apocalyptic with the main character dying & the support character taking on the mantle.
Also with The Walking Dead comic book hasn't Rick trained Carl enough so he can take over? Why is it Rick is still alive? Why does Lee have to die? It also seems like a lot of the stuff in the game has already happened in the comics!
I am guessing its due to the fact that Lee is nothing more than another "survivor" in the Zombie Apocalypse whereas Rick would be considered the protagonist of the story.
I am guessing its due to the fact that Lee is nothing more than another "survivor" in the Zombie Apocalypse whereas Rick would be considered the protagonist of the story.
Plus Rick's just been exceptionally lucky (if you can call it that). Kirkman's never hidden the fact that he's very likely to kill Rick off at some point, and would probably keep the series going past him.
Like, I would give an awful lot to be able to have an ending with Lee and Clem walking off together with Omid and Christa. But that's not because the ending was bad. It's because it was effective. Telltale really, really made me care about Clem and Lee.
What the audience wants, and what the audience needs rarely match.
Re: The epilogue, I'll just copy/paste what I wrote in another thread:
I feel that thematically, ending the game without any kind of extensive epilogue is probably appropriate.
One of the big themes of the game is about parenthood. Most parents know (or at least hope) that their children will outlive them. What happens once you've gone is out of your hands. All you can do is prepare them, give them the emotional tools they need to carry on.
That's why the after-credits scene is so note perfect. How it ends on such a huge question-mark. You don't know for certain if the figures are Christa and Omid, friendly or unfriendly, or even for sure if they're not walkers (they're probably not, but that's still a 'probably'). For you, Clementine's whole future is uncertain.
All you can hope for is that you did the best you could.
1. The implausibility of Vernon taking the boat. It just doesn't make sense. Vernon's group was secure, stocked with food and medicine and no longer under the threat of Crawford. He understood Lee's plight, having lost his own daughter. WHY would Vernon dismiss all of this to risk Lee and Clem's lives, while at the same time leaving his safe haven for the risks presented by the boat? Far-fetched.
Yeah how could 4 old cancer survivors do this? And if you left no one the boat, why would they steal the only hope of 4 healthy adults and 2 kids? I thought better of Vernon and his people.
the biggest disappointment I have is that the episode was way to short and didn't seem to have alot of substance. it was like looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner for a month and finding out when you got there it was vegen., or opening presents on Christmas day and findind socks and underwear.
It just seems like it's another spin from something else Gary Whitta wrote about a guy that finds a girl, trains her to survive, then dies. What was that called again... Oh right The Book of Eli. Same story, post apocalyptic with the main character dying & the support character taking on the mantle.
Also with The Walking Dead comic book hasn't Rick trained Carl enough so he can take over? Why is it Rick is still alive? Why does Lee have to die? It also seems like a lot of the stuff in the game has already happened in the comics!
Don't worry. The totally hipster "the main character must DIIIIEEE NAO!" ending just isn't here, yet.
All you can hope for is that you did the best you could.
Yea, you just found the words to make a horrible cliffhanger at an end of a game (that will have a second series and thus makes a cliffhanger only to make us buy the next game to find out what happened to clem - what probably never will be revealed of course) sound like a good thing. Well done
I would have loved the ending to be more hopeful and being able to do something in my life to do that for Clem or some of the others. You know like seeing the three of them on an island with enough food, where they can catch rainwater to drink and trying to build up a farm or something. Then the cliffhanger would have been ok at the end (like a swimming zombie), because you wouldn't expect there to be more information of what happened, it would be a cliffhanger you do not really expect to be solved, like in every good movie or book. But this cliffhanger at the end really made me feel a little angry. It feels artificial. If you would have wanted us to feel that we do not know what will happen to clem you can just make her walk out of the picture and be done with that. And everyone that played the game to the end will buy the next game anyway, even without crappy cliffhangers...
Still a good game though.
I have no idea why people are complaining about Lee dying. This is the walking dead. Anyone who knows anything about either the comics or TV show should have seen this ending coming from the start. What would have really surprised me is if Clem died.
I agree with the "choices" being meaningless. If there was a way to radically alter the story. I think it would have more of an impact..and re-playability. Also I have to say it seems that 50% of the "X will remember that you did Y" stuff made no impact. Also the choices do need a bit more clarity at times. A few times through all 5 episodes I picked one choice expecting one thing and Lee acted completely different from what I was expecting.
And I wasn't a big fan of Kenny's death. The time spent arguing they could have shot Ben and both survived. Especially after the big speech he gives about how it's selfish to kill yourself like his wife did.
Yea, you just found the words to make a horrible cliffhanger at an end of a game (that will have a second series and thus makes a cliffhanger only to make us buy the next game to find out what happened to clem - what probably never will be revealed of course) sound like a good thing. Well done
I would have loved the ending to be more hopeful and being able to do something in my life to do that for Clem or some of the others. You know like seeing the three of them on an island with enough food, where they can catch rainwater to drink and trying to build up a farm or something. Then the cliffhanger would have been ok at the end (like a swimming zombie), because you wouldn't expect there to be more information of what happened, it would be a cliffhanger you do not really expect to be solved, like in every good movie or book. But this cliffhanger at the end really made me feel a little angry. It feels artificial. If you would have wanted us to feel that we do not know what will happen to clem you can just make her walk out of the picture and be done with that. And everyone that played the game to the end will buy the next game anyway, even without crappy cliffhangers...
Still a good game though.
Weeellll, I personally don't actually think of it as a cliffhanger. Much in the same way I don't think of Deckard scrunching up the origami unicorn in Blade Runner is a cliffhanger, or Michael Corleone shutting the door on his wife at the end of Godfather is a cliffhanger. I think it's an apt end of the game, and they chose it as the final image very specifically.
Those endings are tonally fitting for the works, because those works are basically about uncertainty in some level. They're mired in moral ambiguity. As works, they're more interested in asking questions than providing answers, as is the case with Walking Dead.
Here we go again, the ending sucks because the main character dies! It's mass effect/ L.A. Noire all over again. Just because not everyone lives happily ever after, what is very unlikely in a zombie apocalypse, doesn't mean the ending is bad. It's literature and it makes for a worthy ending for this great story.
Three things...
1: I like the ending. (just starting out with this so there are no misunderstandings.
2: If you think that the Mass Effect ending issue was just because Shepard died in some of the endings you really don't know enough about it to comment on it.
3: If you actually pay attention to what people who disliked the ending of season 1 are writing here, you'll notice that it is far from everyone who disliked it just because Lee died.
1: I like the ending. (just starting out with this so there are no misunderstandings.
2: If you think that the Mass Effect ending issue was just because Shepard died in some of the endings you really don't know enough about it to comment on it.
3: If you actually pay attention to what people who disliked the ending of season 1 are writing here, you'll notice that it is far from everyone who disliked it just because Lee died.
That is all.
This this 1000 times this.
Key differences between Mass Effect and Walking Dead:
One ending made sense and was plausible, the other wasn't.
Those complaining about Lee dying, is this the first Zombie anything you have ever experienced? Christ people.
2: If you think that the Mass Effect ending issue was just because Shepard died in some of the endings you really don't know enough about it to comment on it.
THIS. Honestly, I didn't care if Shepard died, his story was over. There were far bigger problems with the ME3 ending.
@JByrne
It is possible that you are correct and they didn't mean that as a real cliffhanger, where they wanted people to hold on their hats until the next season is going to start, but really if you want to show uncertainty you have tons of options to do that without having to resort to implementing a new situation just at the end and not solving it. You could have let it end with the last things the main protagonist can see. Letting Clem walk into her future and having her not turning back for example. Would have been ok like that.
And if they really had to make a new scene, then at least have the things you have done with clem be a part of how that last scene works. For example this could have been done by letting clem avoid the shadows if you made her not trust anyone anymore, attack the shadows if you showed her that attack is the best defense, put her arm up if you told her to trust even strangers etc.
To me an epilogue like that seems like something they only added because there is season 2. Especially because the scene before that was so well written with all the details that just felt right and would have been a good ending for me. But well.. maybe we will find out sometime who had the impression closer to reality.. Would love to see it like you do, really.
No, it's not. Gaming is a medium, not everything has to fit the same core set of rules. Not all movies, books and plays follow the same rules--why should games? To pander to the audience, serve an entitled desire for self-gratification?
Don't worry. The totally hipster "the main character must DIIIIEEE NAO!" ending just isn't here, yet.
Telltale are not trying to be obscure or anti-mainstream, and a story without a happy ending or closure is by no means 'artsy' or pretentious - they are only writing to match Kirkman's universe.
I know that this is already in the Spoiler Forum but i repeat: don't read if you haven't finished the new episode!!
I let my Lee back for dying, so Clem didn't have to waste ammo :P
Does Kenny also die if there is no Ben in the group?
Do Omid and Krista survive all the time?
Was in your end Clementine also alone on a field?
Yes, Kenny still dies. Christa jumps in the hole for the walkie talkie, and Kenny jumps in to boost her up.
Here we go again, the ending sucks because the main character dies! It's mass effect/ L.A. Noire all over again. Just because not everyone lives happily ever after, what is very unlikely in a zombie apocalypse, doesn't mean the ending is bad. It's literature and it makes for a worthy ending for this great story.
Seriously people still use this line?
Yes some people may think that, but for many that is no where near the reason why they disliked it. For a lot its the lack of choice....which I'm tired of hearing people tell me the game has choice
Comments
Great work Telltale! I'm looking forward to whatever's in store for Clementine in the next season.
What questions are there? Any questions that I can think of would be explained at the start of the next season.
Also, I found his particular brand of crazy more annoying than scary. Between the 'I may be a monster, BUT AT LEAST I'M NOT AS BAD AS YOU!' act and the talking to the zombified head of his wife I found zero tension/sympathy in the scene because I was too busy rolling my eyes. I think Campman may have replaced the deranged grocery store manager in Dead Rising as the lamest random 'psychopath' in a zombie video game.
I told her to walk away from me, and save her bullets. It broke my heart when she said her goodbyes.
Only thing I was dissapointed with, was that episode 5 felt short. I wish it was longer.
I think you're missing the point. Most people are fine with the ending being sad. What they are disappointed about most is that none of their choices actually *meant* anything in the end. Characters die at the same point in the story regardless of who comes with you and what decisions you make.
Doing so makes all those decisions ultimately pointless from a gameplay perspective. Why bother having choices that have to be made with a timer clicking down when ultimately sitting back and saying nothing leads to the exact same outcome?
If the writers don't want to have multiple endings to their story, then they shouldn't be making a game that claims to tailor the story based on players' choices. They should write book, comic or movie.
I'm getting tired of seeing games that make grandiose claims of choice and consequence for it to all be smoke and mirrors. There are games that tell good stories that have actual choice and consequence, and I (for one) will not let TTG slide just because the story was told well. It was a good tale, but they could have done better with the game side of things.
Edit: I was ready to vote TWD game of the year until the ending showed that this was just another adventure game in the end. Telling a good story is not enough to be GotY in my book. It also needs to be a great game. The gameplay I was sold on - your choices matter - ended up not being delivered on enough to impress me. It was a great game, but like so many games this year it tripped over just when the ending was in sight.
hey that was a very serious character, grocery store manager4lyfe
ya thats why i always thought that it was going to be a problem to continue the story of clem or any member of the group of season 1, They had to end up with a cliffhanger.. can just hope season 2 comes next month lol.
I would rate them: 5, 2, 1, 4, 3
So far I have only played through the final episode once and I was satisfied enough with it.
I have one thing to beg of Telltale for Season 2 though...
In order to have a compelling story you must have compelling characters. This is something that this game lacks as just when character development might occur zombies come barging in and cause a ruckus. Now, I came into the game wanting a Walking Dead game and on some fronts it was delivered but on others I am left wanting.
Figure out some way to give depth to the secondary characters next time around.
The only 3 decently fleshed out characters are: Lee, Kenny, and Clementine.
Since Lee and Kenny both passed we are left with only 1 of the half-way fleshed out characters to continue the game for Season 2.
I don't want to say that much of the time was wasted in Season 1 because I did enjoy hearing Lee talk about Newspapers and other random objects he came across but with the most developed character thrown in the trash where does that leave us off for Season 2?
It leaves us with a mostly fresh start which I honestly see as sort of semi-pointless.
I say this all as a fan because I will be throwing money at any new episodes that come out but I just wish that you could retain the Walking Dead spirit without killing half of the cast off in each episode while trying to develop characters and making a few more non-fatal tragedies occur.
If I had one other wish it would be episodes once a month but apparently it was not meant to be (even though it's part of the reason I bought the game...)
There were a bunch of problems with the narrative arc of season one but the finale was fine by me.
I called out Telltale that they weren't going to kill Lee midway through the season and they did it. Can't argue with that (even if it does damage the narrative in many ways).
So yeah, tighten up the narrative and release quality monthly episodes and you're golden.
I appreciate the work you Telltale folk are doing. Keep up the good work and hopefully we see some better quality episodes next season with a more cohesive arc.
"I DON'T ALLOW VANDALISM IN MY STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!!!!!!!"
Also, I just looked it up, his last name was 'Chapman'. I'm thinking birds of a feather.
The railroading dead all the way, huh?
You are &/%$/&$, seriously!
I think it's less about his death and more about player choice. Some people think that when a game gives you player choice, you should be able to remake the story any way you like. Of course, this is pretty contrary to life, where most of what happens to you is completely out of your hands, regardless of the choices you make.
Again Mass effect's ending sucked because it wasn't based around the idea that made the series so popular, Choices. You could choose from what you were going to say to nail your alien blue partner to decide what was going the fate of an entire planet.
All that went through the toilet at the end of making the ending leaving you a everyone dies or everyone lives ending despite everything you had to go through to make that.
I just don't get is why people are surprised about this at the end. There are so many events that occur in the game regardless of what you choose. If you ultimately have no power to control whether or not your group will loot a station wagon why would you be able control the fate of your character?
It's like tailoring a shirt, sure you'll get different sizes and what not according to your measurements, it will still be a shirt, not a freaking jacket.
I, for one, am satisfied with what Telltale did with the game
The perfect ending would of been clem meeting up with them two, alas.
Out of curiosity what was the last words you said to clem? Likely unimportant, but interesting nonetheless - i figured "ill miss you" would be unhelpful in that situation so reminding her to not be afraid more helpful.
Edit : If you carry on with season 2 telltale which im sure you will, remember DONT FUCK UP THE ACCEPTED GAMEPLAY, everytime we get a sequel to a great game, not necessarily from you, gameplay mechanics change etc, please just continue making great games dont change the formula.
Oh here we go again, the ending is great because it's a hipster "the main character must die!!!!!!" ending.
You never got to change the story with your choices, and that was never advertised, not even once. You got to tailor your experience to your decisions, which is what happens all throughout the series. I wish there had been a little more going on under the hood but they made most of the flavor dialog feel genuine and I rarely felt like I was totally without impact to the story. The only reason some of you feel that now is because you either came in with the misconception that it was a choose your own adventure book or you tried to replay the game and ruined the mechanics for yourself. It isn't a game about re-playability, it's an adventure game where you make the best decisions you can and you still get screwed in your very own personalized way.
I think the vague ending was the best possible ending but that's just my taste for the grimdark speaking. The best and only possible ending involves Clementine being alone and scared, knowing everyone she ever loved is dead, more afraid of humans than walkers. That's The Walking Dead for me, and that's what makes it great. I think it would have been a terrible cop-out to give you any kind of closure or a happy ending, and I'm super happy they left it as bleak as they did.
That said, there were definitely some parts of the game that felt contrived. Saw off your own arm without meds and just walk it off? Talk through a crowd of zombies like Conan the Barbarian? Immediately regrouped with your party even though you chose to go alone? Meh. Weak writing, but it didn't ruin it for me like 4's writing ruined it for me. I'm happy with what we got either way.
EAT A DICK.
EPISODE WAS GREAT. I THINK THEY DID HIS DEATH REAL GOOD.
ONLY THING THAT PISSES ME OFF IS THAT UR DECISIONS DON'T MEAN SHIT. LIKE WTF? CHOP ARM OFF? STILL DIE. WHO DID YOU BRING WITH YOU? DOESN'T MATTER WE ALL GON DIE ANYWAY SMH.
SECOND THING IS THAT WHEN LEE DIES, THE SHIT IMMEDIATELY GOES TO CREDITS. WTF? CAN I SEE HOW CLEM MAKES IT OUT? CAN I SEE LEE TURNING INTO A WALKER IF I TOLD HER NOT TO BUST A CAP IN MY DOME?
LASTLY, THE MOST ANNOYING THING OF ALL IS THE DAMN ENDING. WTF IS THE MEANING OF THIS CLIFFHANGER SHIT? CLEM STARING AT TWO BLACK SHADOWS WALKING AND SHE'S STARING AT THEM SHAKING LIKE MICHAEL J. FOX. WTF?
GOOD EP, SHITTY CLIFFHANGERa
Yup.
And damn, Billy, capslock.
I have to agree with this, but there are certain aspects of the ending I did not like which was that Lee miraculously saved Clemintine during the Walker encounter and while I have already complained about this I still stick by the fact that the vase should have rendered Lee unable to help Clemintine (due to it causing him to go unconscious) and perhaps the scene I am portraying would be that of a death scene or an alternate ending whereas the player failed to recognise the immediate danger to Clemintine, rather than ensuring protection against a certain problem which might not even pose a threat, if the player had trained Clemintine well. Otherwise I really liked the ending even though Lee died, there is a glimmer of hope as Clemintine (and even Christa and Omid) will carry on the story from Season 1 which makes the existence of Season 2 worth it and I felt that the ending was very much like the Road whereas the father prior to his death, would let his son live on, giving him his gun and warning him not to trust anyone.
With regards other things I didn't like about the episode is the fact that the choice of who comes with you on the rescue mission of Clemintine is absolutely worthless as it lands you in the exact same path. In my opinion the game never should have brought you back to the manor as the Marsh House was one of the places to go and I feel that if Lee went solo or went with other characters and leaving one at the house, then this group should at least feel secure about the boat and focus on getting Clemintine which is the main story of Episode 5.
Campman was a little disappointing as well as he seemed to be a very interesting Mystery Character prior to our meeting with him as we knew so little about him except for the few times he has contacted us and when we actually do get to meet him, rather than being an interesting figure with some sort of agenda for Clementine, he takes the same route as Vernon and takes Clementine on the basis that he feels that Lee is unfit to care for her and that he is a better father figure. However I felt the back story we got on him was pretty good although I do wish he would stop pretending to be Hershel by entering this fantasy that his wife is alive as shown by him talking to her animate head (she is a walker). To finish this statement I would like to say that at least the choices made in previous episodes had a big impact, although this was mainly on how this guy thinks of Lee rather than it having a physical effect on the story or the events that play out.
Also with The Walking Dead comic book hasn't Rick trained Carl enough so he can take over? Why is it Rick is still alive? Why does Lee have to die? It also seems like a lot of the stuff in the game has already happened in the comics!
I am guessing its due to the fact that Lee is nothing more than another "survivor" in the Zombie Apocalypse whereas Rick would be considered the protagonist of the story.
Plus Rick's just been exceptionally lucky (if you can call it that). Kirkman's never hidden the fact that he's very likely to kill Rick off at some point, and would probably keep the series going past him.
What the audience wants, and what the audience needs rarely match.
Re: The epilogue, I'll just copy/paste what I wrote in another thread:
I feel that thematically, ending the game without any kind of extensive epilogue is probably appropriate.
One of the big themes of the game is about parenthood. Most parents know (or at least hope) that their children will outlive them. What happens once you've gone is out of your hands. All you can do is prepare them, give them the emotional tools they need to carry on.
That's why the after-credits scene is so note perfect. How it ends on such a huge question-mark. You don't know for certain if the figures are Christa and Omid, friendly or unfriendly, or even for sure if they're not walkers (they're probably not, but that's still a 'probably'). For you, Clementine's whole future is uncertain.
All you can hope for is that you did the best you could.
Yeah how could 4 old cancer survivors do this? And if you left no one the boat, why would they steal the only hope of 4 healthy adults and 2 kids? I thought better of Vernon and his people.
Don't worry. The totally hipster "the main character must DIIIIEEE NAO!" ending just isn't here, yet.
Yea, you just found the words to make a horrible cliffhanger at an end of a game (that will have a second series and thus makes a cliffhanger only to make us buy the next game to find out what happened to clem - what probably never will be revealed of course) sound like a good thing. Well done
I would have loved the ending to be more hopeful and being able to do something in my life to do that for Clem or some of the others. You know like seeing the three of them on an island with enough food, where they can catch rainwater to drink and trying to build up a farm or something. Then the cliffhanger would have been ok at the end (like a swimming zombie), because you wouldn't expect there to be more information of what happened, it would be a cliffhanger you do not really expect to be solved, like in every good movie or book. But this cliffhanger at the end really made me feel a little angry. It feels artificial. If you would have wanted us to feel that we do not know what will happen to clem you can just make her walk out of the picture and be done with that. And everyone that played the game to the end will buy the next game anyway, even without crappy cliffhangers...
Still a good game though.
I agree with the "choices" being meaningless. If there was a way to radically alter the story. I think it would have more of an impact..and re-playability. Also I have to say it seems that 50% of the "X will remember that you did Y" stuff made no impact. Also the choices do need a bit more clarity at times. A few times through all 5 episodes I picked one choice expecting one thing and Lee acted completely different from what I was expecting.
And I wasn't a big fan of Kenny's death. The time spent arguing they could have shot Ben and both survived. Especially after the big speech he gives about how it's selfish to kill yourself like his wife did.
Weeellll, I personally don't actually think of it as a cliffhanger. Much in the same way I don't think of Deckard scrunching up the origami unicorn in Blade Runner is a cliffhanger, or Michael Corleone shutting the door on his wife at the end of Godfather is a cliffhanger. I think it's an apt end of the game, and they chose it as the final image very specifically.
Those endings are tonally fitting for the works, because those works are basically about uncertainty in some level. They're mired in moral ambiguity. As works, they're more interested in asking questions than providing answers, as is the case with Walking Dead.
Three things...
1: I like the ending. (just starting out with this so there are no misunderstandings.
2: If you think that the Mass Effect ending issue was just because Shepard died in some of the endings you really don't know enough about it to comment on it.
3: If you actually pay attention to what people who disliked the ending of season 1 are writing here, you'll notice that it is far from everyone who disliked it just because Lee died.
That is all.
This this 1000 times this.
Key differences between Mass Effect and Walking Dead:
One ending made sense and was plausible, the other wasn't.
Those complaining about Lee dying, is this the first Zombie anything you have ever experienced? Christ people.
THIS. Honestly, I didn't care if Shepard died, his story was over. There were far bigger problems with the ME3 ending.
It is possible that you are correct and they didn't mean that as a real cliffhanger, where they wanted people to hold on their hats until the next season is going to start, but really if you want to show uncertainty you have tons of options to do that without having to resort to implementing a new situation just at the end and not solving it. You could have let it end with the last things the main protagonist can see. Letting Clem walk into her future and having her not turning back for example. Would have been ok like that.
And if they really had to make a new scene, then at least have the things you have done with clem be a part of how that last scene works. For example this could have been done by letting clem avoid the shadows if you made her not trust anyone anymore, attack the shadows if you showed her that attack is the best defense, put her arm up if you told her to trust even strangers etc.
To me an epilogue like that seems like something they only added because there is season 2. Especially because the scene before that was so well written with all the details that just felt right and would have been a good ending for me. But well.. maybe we will find out sometime who had the impression closer to reality..
Hear, hear!
Telltale are not trying to be obscure or anti-mainstream, and a story without a happy ending or closure is by no means 'artsy' or pretentious - they are only writing to match Kirkman's universe.
Yes, Kenny still dies. Christa jumps in the hole for the walkie talkie, and Kenny jumps in to boost her up.
Seriously people still use this line?
Yes some people may think that, but for many that is no where near the reason why they disliked it. For a lot its the lack of choice....which I'm tired of hearing people tell me the game has choice