Message/plea to developers
I'm just at the bridge area on Walking Dead season 2 ep2 and found myself getting REALLY irritated with some of the nonsensical "choices" and somewhat baffling scenes that make every character in the game seem like they have a memory of an 94 year old with Alzheimer's and the I.Q. of a mouse. I really want to like not only LIKE the characters, but want to LIKE the choices the characters make and I'm finding it near impossible to do so, and it's not the actual game's fault, it's the writers making this. Here's a little list of some examples of issues:
Writers are trying to keep ALL the characters in a "week 1" mentality where they just make stupid mistake after stupid mistake. We are well over a year in the timeline, and yet the characters are so dumbed down it's getting painful to watch/play. I'd rather see super smart characters eventually slipping up than stupid ones constantly throwing caution to the wind.
Dead zombies appearing literally out of nowhere, moving 1/4 mile an hour aren't going to be an issue. (go watch Mythbusters for a full debunking as they devoted an entire episode to The Walking Dead)
We get it, the series kills off most characters in a truly unrealistic manner where zombies (despite it being clearly explained early on they can't see) pop up and hunt the prey, catching the dumb characters by surprise as if it was week 1 (EVERY SINGLE TIME) but enough is enough. Give the characters a boost in intelligence (i.e. take a car's horn which is small and speaker-like and easy to remove on most, attach two 9v batteries to it and duct tape them together and make sound bomb diversions, INSTEAD of the dummy character going "Hey, over here, come get me!"- utterly stupid) let us get to like them with more character development and fleshing out (makes for added play time and keeps it easy to produce), then let's see some intelligent and rational scenarios.
4, Some examples of stupidity where better writing needs to be done:
-In the shed with Nick, he casually trots over, grabs a 10 pound crate?? to block the door? Really? How about sticking something between the handles? Even a shirt tied through the handles would work.....
-Clem teaching how to use the gun. How about NEVER touch the trigger until ready to shoot, NEVER point the gun at anyone, keep hand/fingers away from the slide, etc.. You're telling me Clem didn't know what Lee meant by "They are just things?" Seriously? She didn't know he meant they are zombies and not people anymore? Could he have been any more clear?
-Crossing the bridge, he falls through the wood? Note to Writers, those rail road ties are nearly 10 inches thick and can last 100-150 years. He falls through, gets up, then next scene he and Clem continue walking on them again and not the metal beams? Poor writing.
-Why would Nick shoot first and ask questions later while Clem is yelling at him to NOT shoot while the 2 of them were standing between Nick and Matthew? Entirely implausible and in real life makes Nick a dangerous and severe liability, not to mention a straight up murderer which they seem to casually brush off? Really?
-Zombies appear, you RUN. You don't casually stroll around and wait until they pile up on you.
Quit treating US the players of this game like we have the I.Q. of a Golden Retriever. Some scenarios might "fly" with casual players or people suspending all intelligence thinking if zombies are real, then every stupid decision has to be logical too. Or hire me to proof read the scripts and cutscenes to help add a level a realism you guys/gals are completely overlooking for the sake of cheap "shock" thrills (I won't excuse time constraints, don't release if not ready). At the very least, add 40-60 I.Q. points to some/all characters and start having them behave in a realistic manner where some semblance of realism to how people would actually think and react is displayed. Get them off week 1 mentality and get them on week 600 already. And get somebody "teaching" Clem more. If you really think a pre teen girl with a 3rd grade education is going to make it for the long haul, I'm going to stop playing right now. Also, I basically never critique a game openly like this, but given the episodes are sporadically released over a year's time span, it forces the player to constantly revisit the world every couple months (shame on you for delays and not having it ready beforehand as you guys have money now) and in my case, the glaringly stupid and unrealistic choices are becoming more and more obvious. Step it up Telltale or risk alienating.
Comments
Some valid points but i would like to point out that the line in the gun training scene is "it's just a thing", talking about the gun itself not the zombies.
I don't get why you feel this is a personal attack on the US? Calm down. It's just a game and a hell of a good one at that. Especially when they are being pressed for time by fans (like yourself) do you expect them to have every single detail perfect? The people at Telltale are people, not machines.
Apparently yes. Because that's not what he meant or said. He said to Clem "It's just a thing," referring to the gun. He was trying to get her to stop being afraid of it by reminding her that it was just an object and not some evil thing like she may have been taught.
All right here we go, another post by the Rambo of the ZA. You know I am actually tired of these posts on numerous forums were people constantly harp on about how the decisions of characters in the ZA are wrong and how you would be so much better.
First off you have to understand that unlike the TV-show this game is about normal people in an apocalypse, not everyone will evolve into a hardened survivor, doesn't just work like that.
Second, quite often when the Zombies attack the reason characters are killed is because of the sheer number, in the face of death naturally you will be scared and when scared at times it's hard to keep a track of all your targets.
Third, your distraction bomb thing... seriously. First off that isn't as efficient as you make it out to be, second, this isn't Left 4 Dead or last of us, Zombies in this apocalypse have sight.
Fourth, Your bash on Nick is obviously indicates you haven't played the game through and have no right to make this review, Nick saw a man with a gun approach his friends and decided to act( Which I might add is what one would expect a survivor in a ZA to do if Zombie MMO's are anything to go by.)
Fifth, why exactly is this a personal attack on the US? Telltale are a US company and the game is released worldwide, I don't see any sort of anti-American propaganda in this game at all. The problem with you is that you seem to think that the Adults in this world are able to undo their 20+ years of pre-apocalypse programming and etiquette in just two years. I doubt that you could survive a quarter of the length that these survivors have so personally shut the fuck up, don't like the game then *fuck off *and play something else