Series Two Episode One. Quick Rating
Sorry if there is a similar post already, couldn't see one. Feel free to move if there is.
Quick rating and a brief commentary of series two episode one:
For me it's a seven.
Pros
As emotional and gripping as ever
Clem is just the best
A good range of characters and attitudes
I'm feeling my stitches scars ache again!
Cons
Far too short, not more than an hours gameplay with most likely a 8-10 week break ahead of us.
I'm not really convinced a dog would snap like that and not just want the food
Predictable walker in shed moment
No sign that choices really matter yet (I know this is still too early so not deducting any marks for this yet) but this episode was more linear than series one.
I liked the use of Omid in the launch just to bump him off straight away, a good call I think but would be good to get someone besides clem to tie down to the series for a while. I guess episode two will give us Kenny or Lily for that...
p.s. Clem cap in the store please!
Comments
I'm giving it an 8. Only con for me is that the episode was way too short.
I'll give it a 9 My only complaint is it was kind of short :P
9.. even though it was shorter it kept me wanting more and had all the good stuff in it.
7, would be a 9.5 but I had a couple glitches that forced me to close and re-enter the game, and it was really short compared to all the other episodes.
7.5 for me. I didn't care for the length; I mostly had problems with the plot structure and how Clem's choices are influenced by the player. There are lots of dialogue options that you can choose as Clem that wouldn't attribute to her usual character. This just sort of ruins immersion for me.
Nevertheless, it was better than S1 E1.
The directing needs improvement; the writing and story are amateurish at best. The new characters feel underdeveloped. It is also very, very short (I was seriously expecting the episodes to become longer and not shorter after the huge success of the first season).
The beginning of season two does not come even close to the quality of any of the episodes of the first season. As a HUGE fan of the series I am somewhat dissapointed, but won't give up faith that the season will drastically improve in episode two.
I was so happy to see Clem again, If it wasn't for her then I would rate this episode even lower. Not because it is bad, but because it has lost much of the charm and spirit that made the first season one of the greatest games ever made.
Final Verdict: 6.5 / 10
6.5 not as gripping and slightly disappointing in some areas. Making a full post soon
8.5 for me. A strong start to the season I thought, but I did think it was a bit too much on the short side of things and that is really the only thing I have against it.
Couldn't have put it better.
Honestly,I'd give it a 6.5/10.Underdeveloped characters,very short,too much gameplay.Confusing and complicated targeting system (dafuq was wrong with S1's targeting system?Don't fix what isn't broken.)A lot of previous characters also lost their touch.And the absolutely awful animations.
9 for me. It defiantly lived up to my expectations and the action sequences were awesome. I don't understand people criticising how the direction of the story isn't clear? Sometimes not knowing the direction or not being obvious to the direction of the story adds to the suspense due to you not knowing what the ultimate goal is. Not only that it reflects Clementine's situation, unsure but trying to survive.
5.75/10 Extremely short with barely any gameplay and sudden crap ending. Definitely the worst episode they've done in the last few years.
It seems to me the success of the first game hit them in the head to crap out a sequel as soon as possible. The Wolf Among Us was far more impressive and waiting 3 months for episode 2 is absurd
I give it a 9.
The episode is better then E1 from S1. This season has lots of potential
totally agreed. and those 3 choices were too obvious (~90% of people made same decision)
5
Coz it's great to see Clem again!
But again (again), where`s the challenge? Games are meant to be challenging aren't they? I mean any games.
Ball games, board games, computer games. Thus the pleasure of winning a tennis match or a game of chess...
I love me my 90s adventure games, but if they were as laughably easy as this, I`d rate them lowly too.
Imagine Grim Fandango: 2013 Telltale-style....SHUDDER!!!!
Telltale made Tales of Monkey Island. They CAN make challenging games!
But with this and Wolf, they have shied away
from any difficulty. Why?
Do they think we're too stoopid to beat a game which doesn`t hold our hand the whole time?
Pity, coz ,with the setting and the character, it would be a great adventure game ,with the challenge restored to the mix!
(Maybe an option of difficulty settings could be added to Season 3)
you're overreacting pal, its adventure games where main role plays storytelling, empathy to key heroes, but not a challenge. different genre, very popular nowadays - as Indigo Prophecy, Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls. Interactive movie in general.
Absolutely agree.
I'm actually surprised anyone except me is saying anything about animation in the episode.Seriously,have you seen that?How much time have they spent animating movement and facial expressions-1 week?Ironically,S1 had much more detailed animations even though TT was a low-budget company back then.The awkwardness when a character is moving is honestly the first thing I noticed as soon as watching the Previously on The Walking Dead scene.
In fact,there were 5 choices that will be shown if you restart the game.Still,most of them were an absolute no-brainer.Honestly,apart from the last one (no spoilers) I can't see how any of these are going to have any consequences."Accepted Nick apology?" - That could have been a normal "Kenny won't forget that" to be honest."Killed the dog or leave him?" - What normal human being would like a dog like that,even if he attacked you?
But,I guess they had to put something as a choice.
5/10
Badly written and directed. Choices seem pointless, 400 days characters will probably play a tiny part imo, to make programming easier for the devs.
S1 ep1 did a much better job introducing tons of characters an players to the walking dead world
Season 2 just feels like the cashing in on the success of season 1.
The consensus seems to be a little more negative than I was anticipating!
I think games like this are modeled on the Quantic Dreams way of approaching games, story and emotion are more important than difficulty. I guess if you want difficulty there are plenty of other games to play but will more than likely fail to match the emotion involved. But yeah, there is a general dumming down of everything in 'popular' games. Like how easy was episode one of Broken Sword 5?!
7.5/10
(They also could have done a little better with the plot of the story too)
Pros: Better graphics than season 1, more quick time events, more detailed environment.
Con: Too short
8 , Fantastic bar the ending it was just so abrupt to end and where did all those walkers even come from...
No complaints other than it was short. Didn't have any major glitches, liked the story, and was entertained. 9.5.
"Gave water to the man?"
9
Pros: People crying "underdeveloped characters" are forgetting that they are comparing it to S1 being finished, and having a lot of time to develop those characters by the final act. In time, S2 will develop characters just as much. Too early to complain about that. Gameplay is more interactive and varied than before, dodging different directions etc. adding a lot more variety than S1's Q-E spam for every scenario. Clem is done very well, believably older, sounding older, seems like a good natural accurate progression of the character. Great, great stuff so far. Can't wait for the next installments.
Cons: My only cons being short, which isn't a con, just means it's good and I didn't want it to end. The other con was I felt there could have been more tribute to Lee as far as her talking about him, the things he did (and therefore the decisions you made in S1), being able to say more how much she missed him or is dealing with it. Basically I didn't feel I was given the opportunity to have her feelings reflect my feels enough, which misses out on a good opportunity for increased immersion.
That's quite a good laugh, tho LOL
Still, there's a chance that the guy may survive. But I wouldn't like that either way.
8/10
Pros:
-TTG has greatly improved camera direction, environments, graphics and the interface.
-The action scenes are as dynamic and fluent as never before.
-Clem is a great protagonist.
-Sound & Music are as great as ever
-The writing is fantastic, but it fails to achieve it's full potential because the episode focusses too much on Clem's journey through the wilderness
and too little on interaction with characters. For a first episode it would have been better if the focus was more on the new characters or if the episode simply was a bit longer than it is.
Cons:
-While there are a lot of improvements over previous episodes, S2E1 has surprisingly toned down character interaction and dialogs.
-Most characters didn't come across as very interesting, "400 Days" had a much more interesting cast.
-The episode didn't manage to set the stage when it comes to the characters, which a first episode should do.
Overall it felt more like a very well done prelude to the first episode.
you do know that this is episode one right episode 1 is for introducing characters and the setting am sure well grow to like they's characters in time but for now I give episode 1 a 8.5 out of ten
I don't judge the development of characters from the start. Still, with all the expectation, this episode didn't deliver it well enough.
Sure, everyone's happy with Clem back. But to control her, and given the choices to make her act like a little B*** is just somewhat wrong.
The script is poorly written. A "friendly-coming-outta-nowhere" dog let you pet him, played with you for a while and then just went berserk over a can of food? Clem may just take out some and feed him on the ground, but no, she gotta take the whole can close to his mouth so that the dog would snap and came back to attack her, so that she would meet those 2 guys who wander around in the middle of the night, so that it could put in a little drama to the situation with the dog/lurker bite controversy, so that she could be locked up in the shed and later tried to get out. But wait, why should she risk breaking out? Why stealing? Didn't Lee teach you something, Clem? The wound got worse, I get it, but if someone caught her sneaking around their house, she might get some permanent wound that can't even get worse. And then later, they just let her join in so easy after figuring out she stole from them? How kind people are in a Zombie Apocalypse!!! "You would have done the same" is a all-time facepalm excuse from Telltale for sure now.
And did anyone feel annoying as Clem talking-to-her-self too often? I mean, Lee did that too, but not as much and as boring as Clem did in this Ep. Sometime you just need to use facial impression instead of saying everything out loud. It just kinda weird, and lazy.
Well, I start to love where the story are heading. But still, Telltale writers know that they could do a helluva lot more than just this. The most disappointed episode from the series up until know, IMO.
Okay, wrote a semi-long post and for some reason it wouldn't submit. Anyway, new season looks like it's shaping up nicely and ep 1 did a fine job of setting up the plot. I have a few issues, the length was a bit lacking. And, there seemed to be less character interaction in this ep than the prior ones. Some of the characters were not very likable, but Nick (who I didn't save, but I'm betting he wouldn't live very long anyway, Pete (who seems like a goner), and Luke have potential. As does the overall story. Who is Carver? Will he be a prominent villain in season 2? Also, not sure who the "I thought you were dead" person was, but Clementine didn't seem too thrilled. All in all, season 2 seems to have a lot going for it, but it's still too early to tell.
I really hated that Doctor, though. Guess he never took the Hippocratic Oath,
I agree wholeheartedly.
What a lot seem to be saying is that it was under developed characters, well what did you expect? The only characters still around were Omid and Christa... did you want them to stick around longer? Personally I did but clearly the storyline is progressing in a completely different direction. They had to get rid of them quickly, which they did. Christa may be back.
Excellent writing. A few minor plot holes or "out of character" moments. I personally think the episode might be the best of all based purely on quality and content. As others said VERY short.
9/10
I give it 10
7/10 - interesting story, but too short, too little dialogue and too much unnecessary gore.
edit: this is a rating in comparison to other games. If I had to rate it in comparison to other episodes of WD, it would be 3/10, maybe 4/10
4 out 5.
9.1 felt rushed at times and didn't get enough time to talk to characters as I wished.
But I had no bugs. Loved the suspense was okay with the time. Liked gameplay enjoyed the entire game. Loved the ending and starting opening. Overall I loved it and it was one of my most liked episodes. I thought it was different and I liked it.
I'd give it a 7.5. I'll go into more depth about the cons than the pros, which will probably make it seem I'm harsher on the game than I really am, but its only because I see the potential for a great game which has yet to be realized and think those cons desperately need to be emphasized to the developers by as many people as possible to make that potential become actuality in episodes 2-5.
EDIT: Geez. This was....lengthier than intended. Sorry for the TLDR folks.
Pros:
~ The Clementine thing was a risk, but I think it turned out extraordinarily well. Its fantastic to see Clem develop into such a strong, self-confident girl and effective survivor, even amidst all the tragedy she's suffered. Watching her gather the materials for stitching her own wound, then do it all herself even through the pain, then put down a zombie all on her own tremendously upped Clem's badass credentials.
~ In contrast to some others, I actually strongly approve of the time skip, as it helps explain how we can play Clem as so different from who she was. Season 1 Clem would never do some of the things Season 2 Clem has the option to do here....but its almost two years past that point and Clem has a bit of the thousand yard stare going. There is still good in her, but its ultimately up to the player to decide how much of that good is left compared to the jaded, cold-blooded survivor who has seen just about everyone she ever knew or loved die and lived the past two years foraging through the wilderness.
~ The art and animation is improved. Impossible not to notice.
~ Even though the quicktime events have never exactly been the game's strength, I still much prefer the system first seen in TWAU and now here with directional controls and the like over the extremely simplistic approach of Season 1.
~ Excellent sound and music
~ Quality voice acting, on the whole. I love how much more jaded Clem sounds.
~ The game doesn't hesitate to put Clem in horrific circumstances, and I think there's a lot of potential here to build upon what they have and make it as memorable as the first season.
Cons:
~ Too fast paced. Season 1 Episode 1 had Hershel's farm and the drugstore, where you could stop for a second and just talk to people, figure out who they are and what motivates them. Breathing room, basically. Maybe they wanted to keep things fast paced intentionally, but the cost of that is that I didn't develop particularly strong feelings about any of the new characters. There was even a perfect opportunity for this: in the morning, just before Clem, Pete and Nick head to the river. Just as in Season 1 Episode 2 you could walk around chatting with people before distributing food, so Clem should have been given a chance to chat with this new survivor group in the morning before telling Pete she was ready to head out. You don't need to be shoving us relentlessly along to the next plot point, Telltale. Give us a chance to get involved with these new people, or else who gives a rats ass when one of them dies?
~ Weak choices. Rescue Christa or save your own skin? Mercy kill the dog or let it die a slow, lingering death? Accept the apology or throw it in his face? These choices are at...what, now? 90%+ each one direction? The reason for that is that every one of them isn't a cold-blooded survivor vs. hopeless idealist choice, like smashing Larry's head or trying to revive him, but rather an asshole vs. non-asshole choice. I gain nothing by letting the dog suffer except to exercise my sadistic streak. I gain nothing by throwing the apology back in Nick's face except to reinforce that I'm a dick. These are too close to the 'rescue the puppy from a tree vs. set the puppy on fire' moral "choices" too many RPGs with karma meters drop you into.
~ Anti-climactic ending, largely as a consequence of problem #1. By the end of Season 1 Episode 1, I was forced to choose between Carley and Doug. I knew Carley was a crack shot, a reporter who had come down to Macon to cover a festival, she saw her boss eaten in front of her, she had a thing for Doug who rescued her, she couldn't handle anything electronic, she was worried about her coworkers at the radio station, she was worried about her funding being yanked and having to hit the blogosphere and she objected when I told her to give the bitten girl the gun. She had helped me at the motor inn and was instrumental in protecting the pharmacy before it fell. I knew less about Doug, but he still helped me get the pharmacy keys and I could still rattle off a list of little details about him similar to Carley from my chat with him in front of the pharmacy. I kinda knew the two of them and thus the choice became hard...though not hard enough, since I pretty much always let Doug die.
Now jump forward to Season 2, final choice. Nick is the guy who almost shot me in the face. His mom was killed by someone who was infected. He first voted to have me killed then apologized when he realized his mistake. He has a rough relationship with his Uncle Pete because Pete thinks he isn't grown up enough. Pete, meanwhile, is the old bald guy who trusted me when I said it was a dog bite. He's been generally supportive. He's hard on his nephew. The above is my entire understanding of these two characters.
I didn't really know either of them, hadn't really developed much affection or attachment for either of them. So when the moment of decision came, I shrugged and almost picked at random, feeling not the slightest shred of guilt or loss over the possibility of the other biting it. I didn't know them well enough to care.
~ The game is short, though I think if people compare it to Season 1 Episode 1 they'll find its about the same length. Season 1 Episode 2 was longer, and I'm hoping and expecting the same here. If it doesn't at least crack the 2 hour mark next time, I'll start feeling this is the new Telltale norm and be very disappointed.
~ The humor is mostly gone, and again I think that's owed to the first point. The funny moments in Season 1....Clem's 'I don't know' about the salt lick, Kenny's remark about Lee being 'urban', Kenny casually calling his son dumb as a bag of hammers, Duck's robin routine, Clem putting the bug on the pillow, etc., were pretty much all from the little interactions taking place between the big dramatic moments.
If all you have is big dramatic moments and the very brief set-ups just before them, there is no room for that sort of thing. The closest we got was Omid and Christa talking about the baby's name...then Omid the light-hearted joker gets shot dead and off we go into one catastrophe after another. Season 1 already showed that just because the story is grim doesn't mean you can't crack a smile every now and then.
Every single one of these critiques is offered not in the spirit of a customer who feels he's been cheated, but in the spirit of a fan who wants to see Season 2 reproduce the success of Season 1. Season 1 Episode 1 was weaker than the other episodes of that season, but Telltale learned and Telltale adapted and the end result was a fantastic, involving story. If they do the same this time, and listen to what people are saying and complaining about, Season 2 will be just fine.
Indeed.
S2E1 is the worst episode yet.
Still kinda there with the starting, and when Pete says Luke he has a good bullshit detector and that's why he can beat him at poker, when clementine looks at the can of beans and says "please don't be bad"
7/10
Loved, LOVED playing as Clementine and what that means for the season in terms of how our protagonist develops her relationships and fits into the group mechanic. I think the dog scene was well done thematically (trust) and from what I know (I'm no dog expert, but I saw an aunt get mauled for denying a dog it's food), realistically. The time jump bothered me a bit. I liked the scenario in which Clem was introduced to the new group, in which their attitude was somewhat understandable. My major gripe was with the characters and the lack of open interaction with them. As said many times before, too short.
Great review and agreed.