You don't need to kill anyone

edited December 2012 in The Walking Dead
You don't need to kill every character in the game to make it compelling. Many great movies/books don't kill any (Or at least not all) characters that you like and it is still compelling. Seriously, every character I liked (Except for Clementine and Molly (I liked the other ones that survived too but I was never attached to them) ) died. Mark, Kenny, Carley, Lee, even ben.
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Comments

  • edited December 2012
    It's a ZA, usually all or most die. And it's also The Walking Dead, where people die left, right, and center daily. If you read the comics there are a couple, or maybe just the one, where roughly 12 people all die in one volume lol. When it comes to zombie media and more so with TWD it's safe to assume your favourite character can and probably will die.
  • edited December 2012
    Yertos wrote: »
    It's a ZA, usually all or most die. And it's also The Walking Dead, where people die left, right, and center daily. If you read the comics there are a couple, or maybe just the one, where roughly 12 people all die in one volume lol. When it comes to zombie media and more so with TWD it's safe to assume your favourite character can and probably will die.

    I read the comic. I just feel like it wasn't really necessary to do this.
  • edited December 2012
    I read the comic. I just feel like it wasn't really necessary to do this.

    Well Kenny and his family make sense to me.

    Doug/Carley seemed a bit random and not needed, at least not at that point.

    Mark AND Larry dieing didn't seem right to me, should have only been one or the other IMO.

    Chuck was really random, I mean I read and heard about why his death is quick and off-screen but come on, shouldn't have added him to begin with if he dies that fast.

    Ben I guess made sense? But should have had him die saving someone or helping the group.

    Lee I hated to see but had the feeling he'd die since episode 2.

    Now if it turns out that Omid and Christa didn't make it out of the city I'll be pissed because that would be a huge waste of two good characters for no reason.
  • edited December 2012
    You don't need to kill every character in the game to make it compelling. Many great movies/books don't kill any (Or at least not all) characters that you like and it is still compelling. Seriously, every character I liked (Except for Clementine and Molly (I liked the other ones that survived too but I was never attached to them) ) died. Mark, Kenny, Carley, Lee, even ben.

    This is the walking dead, not any other movie or book. You should have known or at least expected going in that people were going to die, sometimes pointlessly, mistakes would be made in the heat of the moment, and you would experience extreme loss.

    I mean, yeah, Telltale took it kind of far especially in episode 3 & 5, but I don't think it would have been as memorable if nobody died.
  • edited December 2012
    You don't need to kill every character in the game to make it compelling. Many great movies/books don't kill any (Or at least not all) characters that you like and it is still compelling. Seriously, every character I liked (Except for Clementine and Molly (I liked the other ones that survived too but I was never attached to them) ) died. Mark, Kenny, Carley, Lee, even ben.

    And I bet none of them were Zombie Apocalypse stories......
  • edited December 2012
    The numeration to which people are killed off in TT's TWD game is great. However, this isn't necessary to do this on the comics. Right now in the comic, Kirkman is killing off people left and right to drag the story on. Not a great idea.
  • edited December 2012
    I expected most everyone in the Macon group to meet their demise by the end of Episode 1. Still, just because it's The Walking Dead and people always die, that doesn't mean that NOBODY will live. SOMBODY besides Clem (aka Christa and Omid) kind of NEED to survive. If we find out that they died in Savannah, or die shortly after the second season begins, it would kind of seem like TT was going for the "kill as many as we can for shock value" thing, which (in my opinion) they've done well to avoid so far.
  • edited December 2012
    Yertos wrote: »
    Chuck was really random, I mean I read and heard about why his death is quick and off-screen but come on, shouldn't have added him to begin with if he dies that fast.

    Now I'm interested. Do you have a link?
  • edited December 2012
    Rock114 wrote: »
    If we find out that they died in Savannah, or die shortly after the second season begins, it would kind of seem like TT was going for the "kill as many as we can for shock value" thing, which (in my opinion) they've done well to avoid so far.

    True, I think we'll get some fulfilling closure to their characters in season 2. Omid and Christa definitely weren't created just to be dropped at the end with no hint of their fates. Telltale loves their characters, even if they kill some of them off. I think we'll see a few familiar faces in season 2.
  • edited December 2012
    In a ZA more than 99% of the population die. It's no wonder that some survivors also die. It's a zombie apocalypse, not a bed of roses.
  • edited December 2012
    dubesor wrote: »
    In a ZA more than 99% of the population die. It's no wonder that some survivors also die. It's a zombie apocalypse, not a bed of roses.

    Considering how frequently survivors meet each other I'd say at least 25 to 35% of the population live, but that slowly decreases after the initial outbreak.
  • edited December 2012
    No, 99% seems accurate - but I'd say that's more the endgame than the beginning...... remember, we're seeing an ongoing decline.
  • edited December 2012
    JakeSt123 wrote: »
    Considering how frequently survivors meet each other I'd say at least 25 to 35% of the population live, but that slowly decreases after the initial outbreak.

    Errr no. When Rick was in Atlanta, still pretty early after the outbreak -considering...- there was like 10 survivors. Make another 10 or heck even 20, 30 or hell 40 who were hiding. thats 50 out of 5.5 million. Nowhere near 30%.

    according to you there should have been 1.65 MILLIOn survivors in atlanta alone.
    don't be ridiculous.
  • edited December 2012
    I don't think 99% died. More like 95% of the population. But yea pretty much everyone.

    JakeSt123's statement that a third of the people is still alive however is more than laughable. this is clearly not the case in the walking dead universe.

    it would mean that in the walking dead universe every major city still had millions of survivors, which clearly is false.
  • edited December 2012
    For example, If there was a zombie apocalypse, you wouldn't want to be in New Jersey. Why? It's the most crowded city in America. And the government is telling people to go to the cities. Go there after a while and it'll still be crowded, it's just the citizens won't be as...lively.
  • edited December 2012
    Yea, generally it has been the best advice to stay out of cities or crowded places and go to more lonely small villages and the countryside in general. While the possibility of supplies might be seducing in big cities it generally proofed deadly to hang around for too long in these areas.

    and the government advising people to gather usually happens far earlier to when shit really hits the fan.
  • edited December 2012
    A zombie virus outbreak scenario plus being in The Walking Dead universe equals a high body-count.

    It's simply unavoidable.
  • edited December 2012
    Now I'm interested. Do you have a link?

    I don't but I believe Gary Whitta or someone else posted about it in the Questions for the Team thread, and also it was mentioned in one of the Playing Dead videos.
  • edited December 2012
    Ok, we wont kill anyone in the season 2! we can have kenny alive again and lee and clementine skipping off into a medow of flowers! and we can have christa and omids baby be the cure! and the St.Johns were just having a good ol' laugh too!

    And why not - At end game lee and clementine skip off into a sunset and find themselfs outside a home and it smells like hot dish night then... lee goes in and chet and all the other fallen people are sitting at a table and then the next day everybody realised Duck wasnt bit he was just coming down with a cold AND the bullet missed - Katjaa - she was learning a new move for a her dog at home! ( play dead ) and carley AND doug get married.

    Why not have BEN find the cure whilst your at it.

    and lets have Larry alive and well and it secretly turns out he is gay and loves lee.

    And the crew go to the swimming pool the next day!

    EDIT: Then Beatrice and Irene were bulletproof!

    When everyone we ever met on our travels sits down to eat - there is a knock on the door, Its lilly and a few zombies too! they all sit down and eat and lee gives the zombies a cinderella doll!
    then the zombies stand up and leave and lilly sees her dad after the zombies leave and its a typical running to eachover in a sunset field and hugging scene! Then lilly says '' i love you, Dad. ''

    Larry then replies - I know, i have charm coming out of my ass!
    then The St.Johns and maybelle AND maybelles baby laugh until the neighbours - Jolene and danelle complain!
  • edited December 2012
    :D Problem Solved
  • edited December 2012
    aaron1290 wrote: »
    Ok, we wont kill anyone in the season 2! we can have kenny alive again and lee and clementine skipping off into a medow of flowers! and we can have christa and omids baby be the cure! and the St.Johns were just having a good ol' laugh too!

    And why not - At end game lee and clementine skip off into a sunset and find themselfs outside a home and it smells like hot dish night then... lee goes in and chet and all the other fallen people are sitting at a table and then the next day everybody realised Duck wasnt bit he was just coming down with a cold AND the bullet missed - Katjaa - she was learning a new move for a her dog at home! ( play dead ) and carley AND doug get married.

    Why not have BEN find the cure whilst your at it.

    and lets have Larry alive and well and it secretly turns out he is gay and loves lee.

    And the crew go to the swimming pool the next day!

    EDIT: Then Beatrice and Irene were bulletproof!

    When everyone we ever met on our travels sits down to eat - there is a knock on the door, Its lilly and a few zombies too! they all sit down and eat and lee gives the zombies a cinderella doll!
    then the zombies stand up and leave and lilly sees her dad after the zombies leave and its a typical running to eachover in a sunset field and hugging scene! Then lilly says '' i love you, Dad. ''

    Larry then replies - I know, i have charm coming out of my ass!
    then The St.Johns and maybelle AND maybelles baby laugh until the neighbours - Jolene and danelle complain!

    Are you high? :D

    The walking dead : glee
  • edited December 2012
    Ctn04132 wrote: »
    Are you high? :D

    The walking dead : glee

    xD.
  • edited December 2012
    Dildor wrote: »
    Telltale loves their characters.

    I think some people would disagree with that.

    Primarily the entire cast of Season 1.
  • edited December 2012
    Rock114 wrote: »
    I think some people would disagree with that.

    Primarily the entire cast of Season 1.

    Except Omid and Chritsta
  • edited December 2012
    You don't need to kill every character in the game to make it compelling. Many great movies/books don't kill any (Or at least not all) characters that you like and it is still compelling. Seriously, every character I liked (Except for Clementine and Molly (I liked the other ones that survived too but I was never attached to them) ) died. Mark, Kenny, Carley, Lee, even ben.
    tumblr_m9k9rowwJm1qhfzdpo2_500.jpg
  • edited December 2012
    Just wouldn't be the same if we had even half the group alive at the end of the game. Sometimes I think a few deaths/disappearances could've been acted out a bit differently but hey... I'm okay with what went down.
  • edited December 2012
    Yertos wrote: »
    I don't but I believe Gary Whitta or someone else posted about it in the Questions for the Team thread, and also it was mentioned in one of the Playing Dead videos.

    Well, what was the reason?
  • edited December 2012
    DreadMagus wrote: »
    Well, what was the reason?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvFvL3nqbMQ

    Around 12:15 they talk about killing Chuck.
  • NSSNSS
    edited December 2012
    Killing off your characters isn't intrinsically a good or bad narrative technique.

    If the player has become attached to the characters (read: Lee, Kenny, or Ben as probably the biggest examples of this), then it's a good way to make the player feel emotionally lost or hurt, bringing them into the world of The Walking Dead by making them vulnerable.

    Killing characters for no reason, though, is just lazy, especially if you do it clumsily and without establishing a connection with the player. Chuck is probably the most egregious example of this. He's introduced as a kind of emotional cornerstone for the player to lean on after losing Carly/Doug and Lilly, but his impact isn't great enough for his death to be felt. Especially given that it's off-screen and pretty much ignored.

    All in all, deaths were handled well in this game. It's a sad story, yes, but it's a good sad story.
  • edited December 2012
    Yertos wrote: »
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvFvL3nqbMQ

    Around 12:15 they talk about killing Chuck.

    Thanks! :)
  • edited December 2012
    aaron1290 wrote: »
    Ok, we wont kill anyone in the season 2! we can have kenny alive again and lee and clementine skipping off into a medow of flowers! and we can have christa and omids baby be the cure! and the St.Johns were just having a good ol' laugh too!

    And why not - At end game lee and clementine skip off into a sunset and find themselfs outside a home and it smells like hot dish night then... lee goes in and chet and all the other fallen people are sitting at a table and then the next day everybody realised Duck wasnt bit he was just coming down with a cold AND the bullet missed - Katjaa - she was learning a new move for a her dog at home! ( play dead ) and carley AND doug get married.

    Why not have BEN find the cure whilst your at it.

    and lets have Larry alive and well and it secretly turns out he is gay and loves lee.

    And the crew go to the swimming pool the next day!

    EDIT: Then Beatrice and Irene were bulletproof!

    When everyone we ever met on our travels sits down to eat - there is a knock on the door, Its lilly and a few zombies too! they all sit down and eat and lee gives the zombies a cinderella doll!
    then the zombies stand up and leave and lilly sees her dad after the zombies leave and its a typical running to eachover in a sunset field and hugging scene! Then lilly says '' i love you, Dad. ''

    Larry then replies - I know, i have charm coming out of my ass!
    then The St.Johns and maybelle AND maybelles baby laugh until the neighbours - Jolene and danelle complain!

    Because I said I wanted to have Lee survive and thats it...
  • edited December 2012
    CarScar wrote: »
    tumblr_m9k9rowwJm1qhfzdpo2_500.jpg

    That was such a smart response and so well constructed, the arguments were great!
  • edited December 2012
    Because I said I wanted to have Lee survive and thats it...

    Yup, When the zombies came down to eat ( stated on my other post ) Lee and Carley got bit :O but need not worry because the hot dish made by chet was bite proof and the smell cured all the zombies at the table too! because there IS a cure for the zombies.

    HOT DISH NIGHT CONFIRMED FOR SEASON2!!!
  • edited December 2012
    aaron1290 wrote: »
    Yup, When the zombies came down to eat ( stated on my other post ) Lee and Carley got bit :O but need not worry because the hot dish made by chet was bite proof and the smell cured all the zombies at the table too! because there IS a cure for the zombies.

    HOT DISH NIGHT CONFIRMED FOR SEASON2!!!

    lol
  • edited December 2012
    If no one dies in a zombie movie, then that's pretty dumb. There's no suspense, because you know everyone will live. The walking dead is a universe about the gritty reality of a zombie apocalypse. It would fall apart if it were just a land of happy skippy time.
  • edited December 2012
    Yeah, the game doesn't have that much death compared to the comics, and some of them were pretty gruesome :eek:
  • edited December 2012
    Well after looking back, if more people survived it wouldn't be as good IMO. I like every character in the game and while there are some people (Mark mainly) who I think should have lasted longer than they did, I don't think there is one person who should have survived who didn't. Clem had to; Omid and Christa I believe are still alive which I'm surprised not everyone does; Molly is gone off somewhere and has to come back somehow; Lilly is still alive and either headed to Woodbury with a trail of plot holes behind her, or she isn't that one and her fate is unknown much like Molly.

    I'm happy with our list of survivors.
  • edited December 2012
    That was such a smart response and so well constructed, the arguments were great!
    I don't need to really make an argument considering the game is called The Walking Dead game and if you're any bit familiar with the universe you'd know death just happens. It doesn't happen to make the game more compelling or what have you, it just happens because that's what happens in a zombie apocalypse.
  • edited December 2012
    CarScar wrote: »
    I don't need to really make an argument considering the game is called The Walking Dead game and if you're any bit familiar with the universe you'd know death just happens. It doesn't happen to make the game more compelling or what have you, it just happens because that's what happens in a zombie apocalypse.

    I have read the entire comic book series. Oh that's what actually happens? Funny because there has never been a zombie apocalypse.
  • edited December 2012
    Telltale didn;t know they would make a Season 2 of the game when they had the story mapped out, so that may be why casualties were high for the group. If they had a Season 2 planned earlier, then maybe Lee would have lived, or a few more characters would have survived. But hey, in a ZA, just because you're in a group doesn't mean you'll make it. Some groups would crash and burn and die in a ZA, and I kind of like that we got to see that from Lee's perspective instead of the most liked characters surviving while everyone else dies around them.
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