How come some people like S1 over S2?
I know now why people like Season 1 over Season 2. But I would of thought some of the people who have played this game hated scenes where you just roam around talking to people in a limited area. Most of the opinions I heard about those moments were said to be boring. There is a lot less of it in Season 2 and I find it ironic that people are complaining about not having those sequences. One other reason why they may of left these moments out was because it's about 2 or 3 years in the apocalypse and no one really cares about how life was back then? Just brainstorming now. It would of been nice to include that but I didn't have a big problem with that like some others. What do you guys think?
If you don't quite understand what I mean by these "moments" and "sequences". I'm talking about the gameplay in the pharmacy, freighter train, etc..
Comments
Those "boring" moments where you can walk around leads to Lee/Clem talking with various people and learning about them. Just a little bit of interaction with the protagonist can make us care/despise those characters even more. We also get to explore and hear some of Lee's/Clem's inner thoughts. The strength of The Walking Dead game lies with its characters and talking with them makes them more significant.
I like them equally.
The roaming and talking ability is pretty cool because you can learn more about the characters ie. More dialogue, and character development. And it kind of makes the game longer :P
People are calling those areas "hubs" and yes I was very glad that there were fewer of them in season 2. The hubs were the weaker thing about season 1 for me, but some people really liked them.
It's an example of different people liking different things.
Well, thinking back on it... I liked some of the hubs. I just think they were overused and at times I just wanted to get out of them. Too much quiet time, if you will. It's a matter of getting the pacing right.
Episode 3 is a great example. You open the game in a hub, then some interesting stuff happens, then you're in another outside the train. Then in another hub on the train (I like the train hub, but probably just because of the interaction with Clem), then switch to another hub outside the train again and that's it for the episode. While I was interested in what was going on story wise that episode left me wanting.
I "really" liked the campfire hub in season 2. That was very well done.
I think the main reason I do is because I found s1's story phenomenal and sooo much better than s2's story. Also, I liked how s1 had more puzzles and hubs (though I prefer the new gaming mechanics they introduced with s2)
How were they weaker? You could skip them if you wanted and focus only on the main plot
They just pulled me out of the game is all. You can translate "weaker" to mean that they were not my favorite part of the game.
More specifically, when the game stuttered for me, in terms of enjoyment, it was frequently a direct result of the hubs; be it extreme nonsensical coincidence being center stage in a puzzle (see blowtorch) or a stutter in the flow of character to character conversation. Sometimes in hubs the conversations were good, however; much of the time in the hubs conversations would stutter and feel not so natural. I understand why. It's much more difficult to make conversations flow smoothly with that particular format, and I can forgive it, but I can't not notice it.
S1 was literally a masterpiece. I found that the choices in S1 really challenged your humanity.. season 2.. meh..
Agreed 100% man.
I feel like im the only one who likes both equally. Both seasons had fantastic moments.
In season 1 there was better character development, "real" choices (Choices that I felt impacting and could happen), had more diversity in characters (not race, but personality), had more impacting deaths, more gamemodes than just shooting zombies, creativity and possibility combined, good puzzles, etc.
Season 2 was good, but I felt like everything was repetitive and canon, when I felt like my choices mattered more in season 1. Don't get me wrong, the 5 endings was a good idea, but the 5 endings were given by the choices at the end, not throughout the game. In season 1, whatever you did, the stranger called you out on it.
S1 was a master peice in story telling, we had a goal all the way through, and that was clem's safety. Eveything hinged on it and it raised the emersion levels hugely.
In S2 we didnt have that untill ep5 with AJ, and it showed, there was no overall goal through the game/story, which resulted in reliance on character development and it just wasn't there, not just in hubs (although this did play a big part) but in all areas... you gota turn those pixels into people and the only person there was kenny im afraid.. nick got close and lukes campfire scene did his character a lot of good, but it was too little to late imo
The story was force rap'ed around a protagonist that was to young to be cast as such, lets just say it felt like a "game" while S1 was an unforgettable experience.
I don't think it's ever as simple as 'there were fewer hubs therefore you should love season 2'. It's all part of a complex package with everything having a knock-on effect. What we want doesn't always make for a better game. For example, we might think 'I find these hubs dull' and then later we're attached to the characters not realising that the hubs may have played a part in that.
I see that in season 2 with the endings. Some criticised season 1 for having no consequences at the end and all leading to the same ending. But that allowed for coherent and strong storytelling in a series where the key strength is that storytelling. I feel reacting to that criticism and creating multiple endings weakened that storytelling (in a great story, endings aren't easily interchangeable because they are the culmination of everything that has happened). It led to a watery ending and had to force a couple of choices to get there. Season 1 didn't have that problem. Even when people like the idea of multiple endings and wanted those, they might feel that this season wasn't as satisfying and I would say that was a factor. And the side effect now is that two liked characters have effectively been sacrificed to offer the choice to remove just one.
For the record, I love both seasons. I really appreciate the bleakness of season 2. It's harsh and ugly and it was never going to be pleasant and I think that's great. I'm so glad they didn't just repeat season 1. Ultimately, I think the storytelling dipped in season 2 particularly in the last two episodes and especially right at the end.
But when we prefer one over another, it's unlikely to be one simple thing like hub parts. It's an overall combination of everything.
Hubs are just one aspect of the reasons people prefer 1, but as to why it's because they give the player a chance to actually explore / discover without the games hand holding. Also it lets people catch up with characters and learn more about the cast without it having to intrude on the plot, it's a clever way to make the player care more without having to actually change the plot around it.