My personal Review of Episode 3 (Contains heavy Spoilers)
o the long awaited episode 3 is here, and the plethora f threads have started pouring out. So I figured eh why not a review. I've been skimming through a lot of threads, so I'll try to address a lot of the things people were either annoyed at/liked/talked about/ found hilarious.
So first and Formost the story. I won't go over the complete story but I enjoy its overall feeling how it slowly had a darker undertone growing stronger and stronger until the final parts of the episode. I also enjoyed how it introduced quite a few new characters though this is also a complaint I'll get into later. I feel the pacing was pretty good and there weren't too many QTEs. Overall I give the story arch 9/10
Now onto characters.As said above there are a lot of characters in this episode almost too many, at times, and because of this some characters are left in the dust as the developers try to give others attention. Compare the number of characters in this episode to say Episode 3 in Season 1 roughly 21 if you had all 400 days characters and saved everyone that could you could compared to 14 including the 3 named bandits. As said before it seemed like this episode they had a list of characters they wanted to work on a lot (Carver, Bonnie, Kenny, ect.), but at the same time they had to leave others to make room for developments with the characters they wanted (Nick/Alvin if they live, Sarita, ect.).
Now onto random stuff first being Reggie. I've noticed a lot of hate on Reggie because of his voice actor. This I'm mixed on because I did think he had a decent voice actor, but I can see why some think he didn't. At the same time let's say his voice actor was not up to par is that really bad. In real life there are billions of people with billions of voices, and yes some can be a pain to listen to, but they exist. Same thing here even if his voice acting was bad it still gives a unique voice to a character making the world feel more natural
Now onto the deal with Carver Imma just copy paste something I said in another thread because I really like what I said in it. During episode 2 it gives the impression that while he is no saint he is in the morally gray area. Like how he shoots Walter for one of his own being killed, and in contrast having him torture someone in order to find what he believes is his child inside Rebecca. Then comes episode 3 where I feel they were really trying to make him a morally gray character. A good example is when Clem speaks back to him he slaps her, which while to the player seems blasphemous to others might have seemed justified, in a sense of learning not to talk back to your superiors.
The same thing happens with Sarah how she talks to Clem interrupting Carver's speech. This makes Carver mad as he feels it is impolite and not good to interrupt others (Him in particular), so he has Carlos discipline her in way that to some would seem harsh to others would seem like normal physical punishment. The thing with episode 3 is that while I do think if you look hard Carver is still in the moral gray area, it's a lot harder to see. What do I mean by this. Well it's obvious Carver sees strength in numbers which is why he's willing to forgive the cabin group over time, but hates weakness as to him it will lead to death. This can be seen first hand with Reggie, who he felt was now wasted potential. To us as a protagonist this would seem at first unjustified as Clam put it "Your a murderer despite what you call yourself." But at the same time he might have had validation because who knows maybe Reggie was no longer useful (Not saying this is what I think). This is what makes it morally gray.
Another example of this moral Grayness can be seen with Alvin if he survived. As a player who got o know Alvin we think it's wrong to beat the crap out of Alvin, but what makes it morally gray is the fact that Alvin killed someone apparently before this so to /Carver this was vengeance, and understanding this gives a different moral perspective on the situation To put this is into perspective imagine if Carver actually lived, and Rebecca captured him, and then outright tortured him. To someone new who didn't know the back story this would just be moral black rather than gray.
No that being said Carver's personality was easily deciphered from his conversation with Clem in his office as well as his actions. He sees weakness as a hindrance. He has a strong sense of family and keeping what is his (In the case of Rebecca's baby), He is ruthless and has no problems using violence to do what needs to be done. He believes the best form of punishment is physical, and he will kill if he determines someone to be a threat and or hindrance. His thought process is very Darwinistic in the sense he that it feels very much "Survival of the fittest, and those not fit to survive won't"
Now with all this in mind I will say his death was needed at this point. He had already shown his determination to get what he wants and his sense of retribution. Because of this it's a no brainer if he didn't die this episode he would have chased the cabin group to the ends of the Earth if need be. Which i's pretty easy to spell out what would happen then. He finds them, kills 1 or 2 then dies. Keeping him alive would have done nothing other than that. We already saw his character quite clearly and his time was up. Nothing more would have been gained from his character if he lived.
Okay onto the use of 400 days characters and interactions at Carver's Camp. Again something I'm mixed on. I do wish we could have interacted more, with those characters, but then that brings up the question of how. It's obvious that Clem and co. were on a tight leash and weren't allowed on their own, so realistically when would she interact with the 400 days characters. I guess you could say they could have worked with them on some of the jobs, but again the only people in the main group that did help Clem and co. were Troy Tavia, and Bonnie, signifying that was their job. Alternatively they could have made the 400 days characters say more when Clem passes them by, but again when you walk past someone they really don't have a lot of time to say much. As well this allows me to jump into my next discussion Hubs.
Again I enjoy, but dislike hubs. If done right they smooth out the gameplay and give a breather, if done wrong they are just filler that causes frustration.Now this episode come with when to actually place the hub. I would argue the first night at Carver's camp was a mini hub. It had the same feeling of a hub, but only smaller. After that though when would a Hub work. We already know the group wax on a tight leash, so dawdling around Carver's camp getting to know everyone isn't an option as it would once again break any sense of immersion and realisticness. Alternatively they could have made a mini-hub every night, which might have worked might have not.
Onto the choices. Yeah I thought the choices were decent while a lot didn't really affect what happens much, they do help develop Clem as a character. Which is nice.
Overall I enjoyed the episode I would give it a 9-9.5/10 depending on my mood. Also I really hope Nick lives to the finale if he was saved. If you want me to address anything else feel free to ask.
So first and Formost the story. I won't go over the complete story but I enjoy its overall feeling how it slowly had a darker undertone growing stronger and stronger until the final parts of the episode. I also enjoyed how it introduced quite a few new characters though this is also a complaint I'll get into later. I feel the pacing was pretty good and there weren't too many QTEs. Overall I give the story arch 9/10
Now onto characters.As said above there are a lot of characters in this episode almost too many, at times, and because of this some characters are left in the dust as the developers try to give others attention. Compare the number of characters in this episode to say Episode 3 in Season 1 roughly 21 if you had all 400 days characters and saved everyone that could you could compared to 14 including the 3 named bandits. As said before it seemed like this episode they had a list of characters they wanted to work on a lot (Carver, Bonnie, Kenny, ect.), but at the same time they had to leave others to make room for developments with the characters they wanted (Nick/Alvin if they live, Sarita, ect.).
Now onto random stuff first being Reggie. I've noticed a lot of hate on Reggie because of his voice actor. This I'm mixed on because I did think he had a decent voice actor, but I can see why some think he didn't. At the same time let's say his voice actor was not up to par is that really bad. In real life there are billions of people with billions of voices, and yes some can be a pain to listen to, but they exist. Same thing here even if his voice acting was bad it still gives a unique voice to a character making the world feel more natural
Now onto the deal with Carver Imma just copy paste something I said in another thread because I really like what I said in it. During episode 2 it gives the impression that while he is no saint he is in the morally gray area. Like how he shoots Walter for one of his own being killed, and in contrast having him torture someone in order to find what he believes is his child inside Rebecca. Then comes episode 3 where I feel they were really trying to make him a morally gray character. A good example is when Clem speaks back to him he slaps her, which while to the player seems blasphemous to others might have seemed justified, in a sense of learning not to talk back to your superiors.
The same thing happens with Sarah how she talks to Clem interrupting Carver's speech. This makes Carver mad as he feels it is impolite and not good to interrupt others (Him in particular), so he has Carlos discipline her in way that to some would seem harsh to others would seem like normal physical punishment. The thing with episode 3 is that while I do think if you look hard Carver is still in the moral gray area, it's a lot harder to see. What do I mean by this. Well it's obvious Carver sees strength in numbers which is why he's willing to forgive the cabin group over time, but hates weakness as to him it will lead to death. This can be seen first hand with Reggie, who he felt was now wasted potential. To us as a protagonist this would seem at first unjustified as Clam put it "Your a murderer despite what you call yourself." But at the same time he might have had validation because who knows maybe Reggie was no longer useful (Not saying this is what I think). This is what makes it morally gray.
Another example of this moral Grayness can be seen with Alvin if he survived. As a player who got o know Alvin we think it's wrong to beat the crap out of Alvin, but what makes it morally gray is the fact that Alvin killed someone apparently before this so to /Carver this was vengeance, and understanding this gives a different moral perspective on the situation To put this is into perspective imagine if Carver actually lived, and Rebecca captured him, and then outright tortured him. To someone new who didn't know the back story this would just be moral black rather than gray.
No that being said Carver's personality was easily deciphered from his conversation with Clem in his office as well as his actions. He sees weakness as a hindrance. He has a strong sense of family and keeping what is his (In the case of Rebecca's baby), He is ruthless and has no problems using violence to do what needs to be done. He believes the best form of punishment is physical, and he will kill if he determines someone to be a threat and or hindrance. His thought process is very Darwinistic in the sense he that it feels very much "Survival of the fittest, and those not fit to survive won't"
Now with all this in mind I will say his death was needed at this point. He had already shown his determination to get what he wants and his sense of retribution. Because of this it's a no brainer if he didn't die this episode he would have chased the cabin group to the ends of the Earth if need be. Which i's pretty easy to spell out what would happen then. He finds them, kills 1 or 2 then dies. Keeping him alive would have done nothing other than that. We already saw his character quite clearly and his time was up. Nothing more would have been gained from his character if he lived.
Okay onto the use of 400 days characters and interactions at Carver's Camp. Again something I'm mixed on. I do wish we could have interacted more, with those characters, but then that brings up the question of how. It's obvious that Clem and co. were on a tight leash and weren't allowed on their own, so realistically when would she interact with the 400 days characters. I guess you could say they could have worked with them on some of the jobs, but again the only people in the main group that did help Clem and co. were Troy Tavia, and Bonnie, signifying that was their job. Alternatively they could have made the 400 days characters say more when Clem passes them by, but again when you walk past someone they really don't have a lot of time to say much. As well this allows me to jump into my next discussion Hubs.
Again I enjoy, but dislike hubs. If done right they smooth out the gameplay and give a breather, if done wrong they are just filler that causes frustration.Now this episode come with when to actually place the hub. I would argue the first night at Carver's camp was a mini hub. It had the same feeling of a hub, but only smaller. After that though when would a Hub work. We already know the group wax on a tight leash, so dawdling around Carver's camp getting to know everyone isn't an option as it would once again break any sense of immersion and realisticness. Alternatively they could have made a mini-hub every night, which might have worked might have not.
Onto the choices. Yeah I thought the choices were decent while a lot didn't really affect what happens much, they do help develop Clem as a character. Which is nice.
Overall I enjoyed the episode I would give it a 9-9.5/10 depending on my mood. Also I really hope Nick lives to the finale if he was saved. If you want me to address anything else feel free to ask.
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Comments
1) There were moments of awkward dialogue in the game. As well as just awkward scenes like when Clem is stealing the Walkie-Talkie and it seems like Tavia is staring right at Clem, but sees nothing.
2) The character of Jane. Okay I don't know if it's just me but she seems like she is going to be a prime Mary sue. She reminds me of a mix of Molly in the sense that she seems to be very competent and appearance, Lilly because she seems like she'll be stern and argue with Kenny, and Bloody Mary from TWAU in both attitude and somewhat appearance.
"but to Troy it is seen as a good thing"
Oh I'm positive a thug and bully like Troy sees Carver's actions as wonderful. This really doesn't help your case, though.