Is Season 2 going to be as linear as Season 1?
I admit I like/hated the first season. I was deeply brought into the story thinking every little thing I did mattered and meticulously making decisions. That was up until about episode 3 where my favorite character died and I kept going back trying to change the outcome and came to realized no matter what I did the result was the same. The the bandit always makes it over the wall, the argument always goes south, my favorite character always dies and there's nothing I could do about it. I was hit with the harsh reality that this game was riding on rails and I was just along for the ride unable to control it.
Once I found that out I was really turned off by the game. I actually didn't care for the rest of the story or any of the characters aside from Lee but I played it till the end. Whatever answers I selected wouldn't change a single thing to the actual story just the dialogue I get. No multiple endings, no alternate routes, just one narrow path to walk. That's not what I thought this game was advertising at all.
After I finished Season 1 less enthusiastically about it than I started I realized a few things about the game. It's actually just more of an interactive movie. There's no real puzzles or dangers just a icon to click to progress your character along and get to the next scene. There's no challenge so it doesn't feel like a game it feels like your watching a movie. Reminds me of some of the old Sega CD games I used to play where you would hit a part of the screen and a skit with actors would play.
I praised the game for having a nice story but it seemed like people either died or were just killed for shock value rather than to establish the story. What I like about TWD is that there's a lot of relationship building, bonding, and your survivability depends heavily on who you make your friend and who you make your enemy. So when someone does bite the dust you actually care because it matters. Season 1 seemed to be going in that direction in the first 2 episodes but just throws that out the window in 3-5. I felt the skip between the time frame of Ep1 and Ep2 left out a lot that would have been fun to play through like the group dealing with the world going south and trying to establish a safe environment for themselves while establishing their roles in the group. We come on in S2 after all that's' been done. That's would have been more in the theme of The Walkind Dead but whatever this game doesn't seem to be about that stuff.
When I brought S2 Ep.1 and played through it right out the gate it's more of the same nonsense. Primary characters go south, the game hits you with another happy moment go very bad, more drama and more nonsense then you spend the majority of your time looking for Walgreens supplies.
Right off the top it's everything I disliked about S1 thrown at you right out the gate. There's hardly any dialogue. You don't know what happened or what happened previously as time skips forward 16 months and 16 months in a ZA is like 16 years and once again you're back to walking the linear path. Like the seen with the can. NOTHING you select changes what happens so why are those options even there? Whatever you pick the same outcome occurs so what's the point of selecting an answer? I kept that on the back of my mind in S1 and it hits me hard again in S2. I truly felt once again like I was just watching a movie knowing that the decisions I made or actions I took would do very little to effect the outcome. Click on object,press button, watch cut scene (do they still call them that?) wash rinse and repeat unto the next sequence.
Knowing that what I do as a player matters little really takes away from the overall game quite a bit. It would be nice to explore more than a corridor or alley way laden with invisible walls to remind me how linear the game is. Walking through the house in S2 E1 felt like a chore and it was annoying that the sequence made up a majority of the episode which is why I didn't care for it at all because it was an episode where not much happened in the sense of story and just more "shock value" moments thrown at you. As much as I hate to say it...it was actually quite "boring" to play through and that's what I'm feeling so far knowing that what I do as a play doesn't effect anything and since the game is so easy there is never any real danger as long as you can line up cross hairs and press "spam" X or whatever the quick time event calls for (btw I shun QTE's but for story driven games like this it's okay).
I'm just hoping and I know it's on a slim margin that Telltale actually start making what you do in this game matter or differ and give you alternate paths/outcomes. The only thing I see with the walking dead is that at the end of an episode you get to see what % of players choose the same random answers/decisions that you did. That's the only thing that honestly shows me that the game even recognizes that I pressed a button.
Any way if you made it this far thanks for reading. I didn't make this post to rant but just to express my experience and feelings about the game. I of course will continue to play the game. It's not a bad game it's just more of a movie than a game (this opinion coming from someone whose been playing CYOAS for decades).
Comments
If you want a real interactive movie you should try beyond two souls.
I find the story makes up for the amount of story diversion and honestly yes the advertising was a little off but the game is apparently more tailored; and it is as the characters do say different things due to your decisions and the character your referring to did live for to more episodes.
However I would love more effects of choices if possible its just its more or less impossible, at the most you get different endings in some games.
I do agree maybe some choices should affect death or such, your choices only really change dialogue. My best instance and only one I can think of is when Clem is at Herschel's Barn, if you tell her it smells like shit I think, it comes back at St. John near the cow, she is like "like shit, right Lee?". I was thinking about replaying season one, but you're right, why? a youtube video can just tell me the dialogue I didn't pick. I think ben dies differently, for me I dropped him, I think though he can get impaled or something,
I found the house scene confusing for me, I kept walking straight through the couches and didn't know you could walk to the right, facepalm on myself.