I want it to be harder to remain a good person
In episode 1 I found it way too easy to keep doing the morally right things to do and still feel satisfied about it.
I didn't take from the car, and nobody died of starvation because food became too scarce. Sure we had to ration (which at the time thought was because of my choice) but it didn't make me regret.
I didn't kill any of the cannibal brothers, and none came back to kill someone from my group later.
etc...
In the end it was not that difficult to remain the Good Samaritan.
But I want the game to make me feel terribly remorseful for thinking that in this world I could still be this Good Samaritan.
I want to pay a very expensive price for not getting my hands dirty, and be forced to reconsider my "nice guy" ways. It would make me ponder every tough choice MUCH more carefully.
In season 1 when someone good (Shane, Doug/Carley) died because of my choices, it was because I was trying to save another, and it seemed quite obvious I couldn't save both, so I never felt that guilty after all. I want this guilt, I want the real moral pressure of being part of a group of survivors, I want cruel dilemmas and feel the consequences in my heart and soul.
The perspective of more story branching in s2 plus the high probability of joining at some point a much larger group (Tavia's?) than the group from s1 lets me hope that we'll have more easily "disposable" characters whose death could occur way too prematurely directly and indisputably because of player's choices, because we refused to kill someone or steal from others for the greater good of our group.
Am I the only one ?
Who's with me ?
Comments
Sounds good to me. I know the show is already doing a "sickness" storyline, but that would be a good example of something that would be very morally questionable, how would you handle the spread of a sickness, what to do with the people who get sick.
Exactly, that kind of things.
As Clementine we wouldn't have the role of a group leader with the huge responsibilities of a Shawn, but we could still have plenty of terribly tough choices with harsh consequences we might regret later.
How would clementine be in a position to influence or make only of those choices?
What I would like is to have to choose between saving two well developed characters. We knew Carley and Doug for an hour or so before having to choose, you didn't feel too upset about loosing one or the other. I'd like to spend several episodes with two characters, then have to choose which one to save.
Also, I agree, it should be harder to be the good guy. One example of this is letting the girl suffer in the street to get more supplies. I left her and was able to get everything, but I've seen playthroughs where people got 14 supplies and shot the girl. I wouldn't mind the prospect of finding someone who killed a member of your group and deciding wether to kill him or set him free (not leave him for the walkers, I mean actually set him free, unlike what happened to the St. John's).
I'm all for moral decisions that could harm you significantly in the long term. On the flip side, it should go both ways. How many people predicted stealing from the stupid car would cause so much grief later on? If you harm other people, said other people will probably get really pissed at you. It won't matter if your a kid if you got someone's family killed.
Another thing is that being honest with everyone you meet post-apocalypse seemed to have no consequence either.
With more story branching being confirmed for season 2, I imagine we might be punished for the bad decisions we make.
This was actually my biggest criticism of Season 1. I played a paragon of virtue through virtually the whole thing, telling the truth whenever possible and never taking things that didn't belong to me. I killed no one except when I was absolutely forced into it by circumstance. I confessed my background to everyone the moment the opportunity presented itself, and would have done so even earlier if I had been allowed. The Stranger's criticism of what a 'monster' I was felt hilariously hollow by the end, as a result.
Yet I never suffered for it. Ever. How did Clem and I eat after we refused the stuff from the back of the Stranger's trunk? Never found out, but we seemed perfectly alright either way. What did it cost me that I wasn't willing to kill the St. John brothers when I had them at my mercy? Nothing; they both conveniently died anyway. Who died because I didn't have the cold-bloodedness to murder Larry in front of his daughter? No one. I just earned the ire of Kenny, a man who showed himself to be increasingly morally dubious as the series continued.
Shel's story in 400 days, in which the decision to release a stranger results in the deaths of members of their group, was a step in the right direction. We need more of that in Season 2.
I killed the stranger, I'm glad he turned out to be a bandit (probably). Killing bandits is essentially my apocalypse survival tactic, so that worked out amazing on my end.
I played a mostly good guy, but I didn't always make the paragon choices.
I shot Jolene (I thought she was a bandit at the time, and she had Clem's hat, and she was threatening to shoot. I'm surprised so few people shot her)
I didn't shoot the girl in the street.
I left Lilly behind.
I didn't hesitate to strangle the stranger, and had no second thoughts about letting him live. I did make sure he didn't turn though. He had enough sympathy from me to deserve that.
I didn't want to "spare" the brothers, I wanted both of them to be eaten alive and die painful deaths.