The Penultimate curse
Maybe this is just me, but I have noticed that the penultimate episodes tend to be the weakest of the season. Not bad, but not quite as good as the other episodes. From The Walking Dead to Game of Thrones, and perhaps Tales from the Borderlands. Do you think Tales from the Boderlands' penultimate episode will be the same as the other penultimate episodes by recent games from Telltale, or will it break the mold and be one of the best- if not the best episode to date?
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Let's hope it'll be great. No way to tell yet.
The weakest penultimate episode for me was the one in The Wolf Among Us. But usually the penultimate episode don't annoy me because there are usually great moments.
I guess we'll find out in one or two months.
Everyone is saying A Nest Of Vipers was bad. Guess I'm one of the few that actually loved it. Anyways I think ep.4 of TFTB will be good.
A lot of people think this, though for me I usually find the Penultimates to be some of my favorite episodes. A Nest of Vipers wasn't mind blowing but it was pretty awesome, Around Every Corner and Amid The Ruins I loved, and In Sheeps Clothing was fairly decent. Again, IMO so I probably will end up enjoying Tales ep 4 too, if episode numbers are something to go off of, which IMO they aren't.
I thought it was good, it was weaker then previous episodes, but not terrible like some people say it is, and I thought the last choice was great, a very difficult choice for me to make.
I personally really love A Nest of Vipers. Which is why I was rather confused that a lot of people didn't like it.
Overall Tales seems to have had a much more solid writing team and a clearer vision for the overall Season. It's going to be great.
It kind of boils down to a complete lack of oversight in the choices. Duncan/Royland betray the Forrestors over a silly choice made back in Ep. 1? Among other things, Arthur is flayed and killed even if you bring him with you to Highpoint before?
I get that the Duncan/Royland situation makes our choices matter in a way, but it completely ruins the integrity of the characters when one of two of House Forrestors most loyal men can betray his House over something as petty as if they're made Sentinel or not.
I guess people were expecting more to happen? Gared/Mira's stories were pretty much left hanging and there wasn't a whole lot of action until the final scene which I thought presented the hardest choice of the Season.
I really liked A Nest of Vipers too, but I enjoyed the previous episodes more.
It wasn't. It was actually a good episode, just not as good as the previous episodes imo.
I hope it'll be really good, I've been excited for this episode mostly due to its title alone.
I actually thought the one from Walking Dead Season 2 was the worst.
Oh yeah, Amid the Ruins was garbage.
The only penultimate episode that I thought was disappointing was in Sheep's Clothing. And honestly, it was only because it was short.
Gotta prepare for writing Escape Plan Bravo Defense Masterpost.
I'm pretty hopeful that episode 4 will be awesome. I mean, come on, we're going to Helios! It's gotta be awesome. :P
But even if the writing is lackluster, at least Tales can fall back on it's humor. So long as the episode is still hilarious, it'll still be entertaining, even if the writing leaves much to be desired.
The whole penultimate episode problem all boils down to personal opinion, but typically it's how the majority of players view the episode. That being said, c'mon Telltale break the cycle!
Could it be a real cycle or expectations? Seems like if you expect the penultimate episode to be bad it will be, whether it is or isn't. Expectations and others opinions tend to shade how we look at something. I'm guessing there was a lot of people who liked A Nest of Vipers, but with the dog pile on it they aren't going to be as likely to say so in the forums for fear of being dog piled themselves.
.... Or three.
Personally, I thought both episodes 4 and 5 of season 2 were not that great. I mean, the main villian was dispatched in episode 3, and his base has been destroyed, what exactly is there left to do? It felt like you just meander around for 2 episodes, with that woman basically going "everyone is going to die", and everyone does, because the plot demanded it, in the space of something like, 4 days? Rather than say in the TV show where things detiorate at a far more realistic length, episodes 4 and 5 both manage to feel like they have no overall plot, but also feel very rushed when the inevitable collapse seeps in.
Tbh, I've loved every penultimate episode that Telltale's created WHEN I played them. It's only until I hop onto the forums that I see all the reasons that people didn't like the episode, and therefore I think less of them.
I havent noticed that but I tend to see each episode as part of the whole story and enjoy them that way. that being said, I think Tales has been excellent so far and have no reason to think episode 4 wont continue that.
Really? I see negative comments and Im like, "Well, thats their opinion." It doesnt change how I feel.
I want this next episode to kick-ass just like the rest, while most and my own opinion are well known about GoT episode 5, I'm still hopeful for episode 6 there like I am for the rest of Tales. I'm really digging this series and hope it breaks the cycle we're all too familiar with.
It's not that I care all too much about their opinions, but they do sometimes make me realize things that I would otherwise not have. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the penultimate episodes at all, I just understand why some people dislike them more than others.
Hasn't Tales so far proven to be the exception to the rule in almost every way?
I don't know if it's the tonal changes (in particular the humour), the freedom that comes from the narrative framing device (the 'unreliable narrator' schtick), the quality of the writing, or the fact that they're clearly taking their time with it, but it seems to be on a completely different level to Telltale's other games.
It genuinely gets better with each episode, and I don't see any reason for that trend to stop.
Also I, for one, have been most hyped for ep 4 since the start because I'm Hyperion-loving-trash and am just so freakin' keen to see more of Helios.
Even if we don't get an Angel or Timothy reference (but, dear god, if we do), I just think there is so, so much potential and I cannot wait to see how TT handles it all.
Personally, I'd argue episode 2 is the weakest episode, but even then, I think episode 2 was the episode that used it's time to develop are 2 main leads, as well as the sidekicks, but didn't have as much action as episode 1. Certainly, out of the three, I don't think there has been any that have been weak atall, and unlike Wolf and Dead (not played GoT), all the plot threads all seem relevant, there's so much about what is going on we don't know, and it doesn't feel the need to bow to expectation, unlike say Dead season 2, where at times it felt dark and gritty, purely because that's what The Walking Dead is about, rather than for the good of the story.
Episode two is actually my favourite (so far), but I think from a storytelling and gameplay perspective episode three is probably "better" than it. I just happen to personally enjoy two more (and I think a large part of that comes from all the great character development we get, as well as that killer ending).
But I definitely agree that Tales seems to have afforded the writers a lot more freedom, which really shows within the narrative. I'd hate them to suddenly kill off a major character just because they're Telltale and "that's what's expected of them" - I'm not saying it shouldn't happen at all, it just shouldn't happen for the wrong reasons.
I think the humor and pure freedom of Borderlands allows them to spread their wings a little and become a bit fearless in the writing. You can do things to the characters, like what they did with Vaughn, that you can't in a drama. And Jack, well Jack is downright a cathartic release in a world gone insane with fear of offence.
It's funny you say that Whistler, considering some of the social justice elements The Pre-Sequel has. It is funny how the Tales writing team feels so different from the BL2 and TPS writing teams.
Yeah, I think Borderlands has such a creative freedom to it, as well as one that lends itself to comedy over tragedy, I think it's letting the writers have a lot of freedom, compared to GoT, which, while the reviews I've read for it are good, it's hard not to get the feeling it's going down the Wolf and especially Dead paths of being tragic, for the sake of it, because grittiness is so "in" at the moment.
The one part of TPS that made me bristle. Jannie Sprigs would have been a great character without the PC pounding. Her calling Athena just to say 'hi' was funny. Saying that 'some' people think doughnuts and homophobia is inspirational and Torge apologizing for saying friend zoned was not.
It's why when Jack says "Hey! she's right. And she's a girl!" with zero apologies I have to laugh. He's a chavanist pig happy in the mud and I find that...refreshing. Like Mad Men was.
Yeah, actually the Walking Dead started that curse. The penultimate episodes of all the older games were some of the best actually.
I gotta say, having just finished TPS with Tim, I never felt like Janey's (or anyone else's) 'progressive agenda' got shoved down the players' throats, the way so many TPS players seem to feel..? Those were just a few scattered lines here and there, weren't they? Just as valid as Jack's chauvinistic comment - Borderlands characters have various outlooks, and I personally enjoy seeing them all, makes the world seem more alive.
That said, I was frequently somewhat, ummm... inebriated... during my TPS playing time... and in Timmy's own words: 'I was only half-listening, anyway', so I might have missed some stuff... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Glad to see someone with the same opinion as me.
Not feeling like it was pushed down my throat, more just the eye roll moment that happens when you are over saturated with something.
I thought A Nest of Vipers was really good! It didnt feel like a weak point at all. So i think it's possible Telltale can pull off another great episode for Tales.
Some in the gaming community have a habit of dog piling on games. Once one person, who they believe, opinion matters says something sucks, then they have to jump in and agree. Take the Pre-Sequel. I loved it, those I play with loved it. Some mechanics where a little wonky but not wonky enough to ruin the game. Then I was told by another friend that the Pre-Sequal was the worst and everyone hates it, because some people on some forums where complaining about it over and over again. So glad I didn't go on those boards and discover how much I should hate a game I enjoy playing so much. Of course the friend hadn't even played it, so tells you how much their opinion was worth.