The timeline?
I know there's been a bunch of talk about this, and the general consensus is ~100 days, but I figured out the timeline with my own math and logic etc. and thought it might be worth sharing for feedback, as I got a very different result.
In episode 1, Lee and the officer crash into a walker. The police response visible through the window and the lack of knowledge of walkers put this at about the same day as Vince, Day 2 (maybe later, since Vince only sees one police car, but I'll say the same.) Lee is unconscious an indeterminate amount of time - but Clementine is on her own "for days," so that puts it at at least 1 day of unconsciousness (maybe 2, if we assume the infection sustains unconscious people like Rick in his coma.) If we assume the officer was not killed, but bitten and rendered immobile because of serious injury, this would fit into the timeline (by the time Lee finds him, he has just died, and this explains his mere crawling upon reanimation.) Lee sleeps on the farm and then spends the next day with drug store antics, which puts us at Day 4-5 by the episode's end.
Episode 1 to episode 2 is at least 3 months, which we know from Mark and Lee's dialogue. They find Mark before those three months, so I'd put it at about 1-3 weeks before finding him - remember that by the time they did, they were wary of strangers at all, but only took him in because by that point, they were desperate for food. Any food at the hotel or remaining from before would have run out by then. So that's 7-21 days, putting us at Day 11-26. 3 months then pass, so that's 90-93 more days, and then episode 1 is all one day. The end of episode 2 is at around Day 102-120.
Episode 2 to episode 3 is a time skip, but we aren't sure exactly how much. According to the stranger, "a few weeks back" before Episode 5 is when they find the station wagon, so I'd put it at a 3-4 week time skip (21-28 more days.) Episode 3 is one day at camp, then another on the road/train (it's nighttime when they leave Lilly, and Kenny assumedly drives them all night.) The end of episode 3 should be at Day 125-150.
Episode 4 is 2 days; they invade Crawford at night, and Clementine goes missing the next morning. Episode 5 is 1 day, but it's the same day episode 4 ends on, so no added days.
Altogether, this would put the end of episode 5 at around Day 127-152, not Day 100.
What do you figure? Is this close to being correct, or is there something I missed?
Based on this, there's still a long time until day 400, but its not as long as thought before, so it is likely that Season 2 will be a time skip. My own prediction is that Bonnie will be the PC or otherwise somehow important, as she is the only character who goes to the camp no matter what. Clementine may find this settlement, and something goes wrong there (as things always do) to fuel the story.
In episode 1, Lee and the officer crash into a walker. The police response visible through the window and the lack of knowledge of walkers put this at about the same day as Vince, Day 2 (maybe later, since Vince only sees one police car, but I'll say the same.) Lee is unconscious an indeterminate amount of time - but Clementine is on her own "for days," so that puts it at at least 1 day of unconsciousness (maybe 2, if we assume the infection sustains unconscious people like Rick in his coma.) If we assume the officer was not killed, but bitten and rendered immobile because of serious injury, this would fit into the timeline (by the time Lee finds him, he has just died, and this explains his mere crawling upon reanimation.) Lee sleeps on the farm and then spends the next day with drug store antics, which puts us at Day 4-5 by the episode's end.
Episode 1 to episode 2 is at least 3 months, which we know from Mark and Lee's dialogue. They find Mark before those three months, so I'd put it at about 1-3 weeks before finding him - remember that by the time they did, they were wary of strangers at all, but only took him in because by that point, they were desperate for food. Any food at the hotel or remaining from before would have run out by then. So that's 7-21 days, putting us at Day 11-26. 3 months then pass, so that's 90-93 more days, and then episode 1 is all one day. The end of episode 2 is at around Day 102-120.
Episode 2 to episode 3 is a time skip, but we aren't sure exactly how much. According to the stranger, "a few weeks back" before Episode 5 is when they find the station wagon, so I'd put it at a 3-4 week time skip (21-28 more days.) Episode 3 is one day at camp, then another on the road/train (it's nighttime when they leave Lilly, and Kenny assumedly drives them all night.) The end of episode 3 should be at Day 125-150.
Episode 4 is 2 days; they invade Crawford at night, and Clementine goes missing the next morning. Episode 5 is 1 day, but it's the same day episode 4 ends on, so no added days.
Altogether, this would put the end of episode 5 at around Day 127-152, not Day 100.
What do you figure? Is this close to being correct, or is there something I missed?
Based on this, there's still a long time until day 400, but its not as long as thought before, so it is likely that Season 2 will be a time skip. My own prediction is that Bonnie will be the PC or otherwise somehow important, as she is the only character who goes to the camp no matter what. Clementine may find this settlement, and something goes wrong there (as things always do) to fuel the story.
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Comments
"Your girl still upset with me for taking stuff out of that car last week?"(slightly changed if you took the supplies but still mostly the same)
Not sure if that changes much, but good work on this.
And, as Kingofthedead mentioned, none of this really fits the comic's timeline. Kirkman has said that in the comics, the outbreak happens in October. In Telltale's game, the outbreak first seems to happen in the Spring (according to one of the messages on the answering machine in Clem's house) and then seems to be retconned to sometime in the summer (since it seems to be mid to late Fall "three months later").
He crashed on Day 2. The radio in the police car he was in has the same chatter that we hear on Vince's prison bus during Day 2.
I'll take your word for it. I could never hear it very well, and with the subtitles on my mind automatically goes to "I'm tired of hearing this shit". Or whatever he says.
So we've got two conflicting quotes about this. Is this the point where the later info (ep 5) is deemed "canon," or should Kenny's statement be canon because he wasn't, you know, off of his rocker? Gggh the timeline is so weird.
So if it says "three months later" it could only have been a week or a week and a half before they met Mark? Assumedly any more would be "three and a half months." Hmmm.
Is it really? That's actually really neat! And that means that the assumption that he crashed on Day 2 is correct, so that's good as well.
Three months pass into the fall. I'm guessing that means 92 days have passed, which means we are on day 97. Leg trapped, Mark talks, choppy chop, we meet Ben, then the truth. Then here comes the cannibals. They walk threw the woods to the farm, get some biscuits the day goes on. Eventually a supper is made at night time, Lee discovers the truth, we are trapped in a cooler and Larry the asshole dies because of high salt intake. The night goes on and the family ends. Either late at night or early morning Lee and the gang find a car filled with goodies. Then day 98 starts and we hit a time skip.
Episode three opens and a week passes starting day 105. We stop at the pharmacy one more time, bandits attack after we play Batman and Robin, and night fall finds us on the side of the rode with a dead friend. We learn about Duck being bit, then Lee and Clem fall asleep. day 106 starts and we are at a train track with a train on it. Now if she hasn't already Lilly leaves, the train is loosened, a hobo plays us a song and we move down the track. Mid day we stop to go Duck hunting (I know bad pun.
Day 107 we lose our hobo friend, Omid is hurting, and we meet an asshole named Vernon after Kenny's last dream is crushed. Night time falls and we are at Crawford till dawn when day 108 begins. Lee and Clem sleep a bit, Lee wakes up and Clem is gone. Day 108 is the time the Clem is kidnapped and Lee is bitten.
Episode 5 begins and we are in the basement of the hospital still on day 108. Then Ben dies (if he wasn't already), Kenny dies (or if you believe he is Super Mario disappeared), and Omid and Christa the couple we have known for a full two days disappear again. Lee is pissed makes his way threw the heard, kills the pervert (or watches as his prodigy does) then collapses when he and Clem discover the truth about her parents. Lee then dies after telling Clem he will miss he, and then she escapes the city into day 109.
What this means is that if my calculations are correct then season 2 can start no earlier then day 109. The earliest day that Clem would have meet "the strangers".
It also means that after surviving the cannibals Lee's group lasted..... 11 days. And if Clem is going to last a full year she still has 256 days to go. If she is going to last into "400 days" territory she has 291 days to go.
Or Clementine could have been found earlier by Tavia's scouts and already be at the settlement by the time Shel and co arrive at the 400 days mark. The dlc could have been a flash forward from where we left Clem and season 2 could just continue from where we saw her last. Season 2 could cover another 3 months of her travels, with her going to the settlement and flash forward to 400 days where she meets the characters from the dlc.
Then in Macon, Lee states that the newspaper in the drugstore is a week old, which would place the date at Day 8!
So it doesn't add up.
I guess Lee was unconscious for 5 days, waking up on Day 7. Though he could only go without water for about 3 days, so I really don't see how these dates add up.
Day 2 - 1.1: A New Day (Introduction)
Day 2 - 1.6: 400 Days (Vince's Story)
Day 8 - 1.1: A New Day (Meeting Clementine/Arriving at Hershel's)
Day 9 - 1.1: A New Day (Rest of episode)
Day 41 - 1.6: 400 Days (Wyatt's Story)
Day 101 - 1.2: Starved for Help
Day 112 - 1.3: Long Road Ahead
Day 113 - 1.3: Long Road Ahead
Day 113 - 1.4: Around Every Corner
Day 114 - 1.4: Around Every Corner
Day 114 - 1.5: No Time Left
Day 115 - 1.5: No Time Left
Day 184 - 1.6: 400 Days (Russell's Story)
Day 220 - 1.6: 400 Days (Bonnie's Story)
Day 236 - 1.6: 400 Days (Shel's Story - Part 1)
Day 259 - 1.6: 400 Days (Shel's Story - Part 2)
Day 400 - 1.6: 400 Days (Epilogue)
Here's my 'time markers':
As shown in Vince's Story, Wildfire seemed to hit this part of Georgia on Day 2, so that's when Lee's adventure begins.
He must stay comatose until at least Day 8, as Lee comments that the newspaper at the drugstore is "a week old". Presumably the infection sustains comas as both Rick and Lee survived longer than usual. Both woke up thirsty though!
Starved for Help is at Day 101 as it is three months later - I assumed a round 92 days.
Kenny mentions that they took the supplies from the car "last week", but in Episode 5, the Stranger says that it has been a few weeks. I've adjusted the gap to be eleven days. That way both pieces of dialogue fit.
The rest is obvious, with days passing.
As the comics and TV series both say October was the start of the global pandemic, and they both came first, I'd say they take precedence.
I live in the UK and have never been to America. How does winter treat the trees there in Georgia? Do they lose their leaves gradually or swiftly, and how long does it take them to grow back?
"Starved for Help" would take place in Jan-Feb depending on the exact date the infection started (does "Wildfire" or "TS-19" specifiy the exact date? I don't remember).
Seasons just don't seem to happen in Telltale's Game. Maybe we could just put it down to artistic license? Or that they simply chose to spend the budget on other things.
There are two reasons I could see for them skipping so far ahead:
1. It's going to connect with the TV series somehow. Season 3 ends at around Day
2. Christa is going to play a big part and they want to skip over her nine months pregnancy.
Of course, they could just be going in that direction with the story, but I think one of the aforementioned two reasons is a big factor.
As for what happened to Clem, or the 400 Days crew in the gap, I imagine that will either be shown, or revealed through dialogue.
PS. Props to the Red vs Blue sig!
I don't think Telltale will try to make any connections to the TV series. I remember reading somewhere that the game is canon to the comic book series. The second option seems the most likely.
I think what most annoyed me by the gap is none of them looked like they'd been surviving for many months. Beards weren't any longer, clothes weren't more ragged, and they just didn't act like they had been living there very long.
I'm just nitpicking, though. I'm really interested to see exactly how Telltale link 400 Days into Season 2.
All of the food in Clementine's house had been eaten, which suggests at least a week of living off of it, since nobody had broke in.
However, Sandra hadn't listened to the answering machine, which if she died two days earlier, she definitely would have.
I found that the "out for a few days" option satisfied the most criteria, with the newspaper in the Everett drugstore being a week old.
The answering machine will just have to be put down to Telltale wanting to tell the player what most likely happened to Clem's parents.
I ran through a playthrough to pick up all the "time markers," but saved Carley. I'll have to do one with Doug and see if you're right, as I'd say that would take precedence over Kenny's line if it's said. It would match up with Stranger's dialogue more, and the fact they'd gone through the car and pretty much Macon's supply of food (the food relatively safe in reach anyhow).
The cop could have been knocked out a while as well. Also transition varies from a couple minutes to many hours.
I put down the Walker's dramatic awakening to just that... drama. It was to surprise the player.
I don't think there's an explanation - it's whatever is needed for the plot, I guess.