I want Clem to remain Clem
Ello everyone !
As all of you , I'm also a really big fan of the Walking Dead and although I haven't read the comic books ,I share a certain fondness towards the characters as well as a great addiction to the awesomely made story .
This is also my first post in the telltale community although I've been spying on you people since I started playing the first season of the WD. Sincere apologies to the posters and admins if this discussion is in any way irrelevant or in the wrong place.I know people hate big introductions,heck ,I hate them too , so I'll get straight to the point.
As it says in the title , I believe I speak for all WD fans. And I am sure, that although we want to witness Clementine's progress in the story,her growing up as an individual in the apocalyptic world, I am sure none of us want to see Clementine turn into something she's not. I am aware that I speak of her as if she were real. And in a way, to us, to me , she is. She has become a part of me. In the end, it is Clementine who we go through the story with ,not Lee. (God bless his soul. I miss him. )
We have all known Clementine from season 1 as a sincere, empathic little girl and that is a general picture of her that we've accepted and charished. I can speak for myself when I say that in the second episode of season 2 I've wanted Clementine to remain Clementine in the way she speaks and decides and acts, as much as I wanted her to be like me. (because, of course, we play the way we would react in real life in the same situations).
All that proves how much I've come to love and respect Clementine as an, although not a complete person, but a lovable character,a beacon of light in a dark world full of gore and evil .
I believe WD would be less popular had the players impersonated someone else instead of Clem, and that is basically because of her virtues and innocence. Clem impersonates hope and good, she is a walking contrast to the world around her .
All this leads to my next big statement.
Again , I speak for myself in this case, but I am sure there will be some of you who have also noticed that overall Clementine began to change,starting from episode 1 of season 2.
They have implemented a lot of conversation options that were rather illogical to be spoken by Clementine, but they were there anyway. Ok , I admit, I cut down Rebecca in the very beginning when I witnessed that she treated Clementine (me) in a very douchey way. I was more like " Btch, you've no idea what I've been through in season 1, I don't need to stand your sht. " And although that was purely my decision to react that way , when I thought of it, that was not Clem who I knew.
They have also made it "graphically" obvious that Clementine was not very happy in a few situations and some her answers were followed by a "sour " face, although the convo option was supposed to be "nice". You may say I'm making things up and that it's just me. And it could be, surely . But then, I would really hope Clementine does not change ,again, into something she's not . I believe telltale should worry about that the most. My last decision in season one was that Clementine shoots Lee because I did not want him to become one of them ,one of the zombies.
He fought against them while trying to stay humane and righteous, Lee helped and protected people in this time of a twisted illness that corrupted both minds and body of everyone else. I did not want Lee to become something he's battled for so long.
It seemed to me that in the end all good what he did was for nothing.
It would somehow desecrate his whole existence. At least, that's what I felt.
So I wanted to keep that opinion that Lee was and remained a hero who did not give in to the (physical and mental) illness. It is understandable that no one can ever remain righteous and good at all times,especially in a zombie apocalypse, but there are fundamental characteristics that make the difference between the ones who draw bigger circles,including many people in them and having a bigger picture, from those who draw the smallest circles so only they could fit in .
In the end, a rather subjective statement, but nonetheless, it would break my heart to see Clementine change into an "impure " character.
I want Clem to be like Lee.
I want Clem to remain Clem .
Comments
Clem cannot stay who she was and expect to survive. If you have that attitude you'll just end up like Matt or Walt who were overly nice and trusting.
That said she can still stay moral if you let her. Its up to you really but she couldn't remain the innocent season 1 clem for long
As long as Clementine hangs on to her humanity, which she has so far, expecting her to remain an innocent little girl this long would be pretty unrealistic. Believe me, I've had little sisters, and there is a world of difference between an 8-year-old and and 11-year-old, even in the normal world. Having a sweet, trusting little Clementine survive half of what a Walking Dead protagonist goes through intact would be the least realistic thing they've ever done in this series.
Yeah, Clementine is still Clementine. Her character arc can go good or bad, depending on your choices. and I cannot stress this enough, if she was like the innocent girl we met in S1EP1, she would be dead by now.
And even then, with people like Carver and Nate out there in the world, how could you not expect for her to act differently?
There is truth in all of your comments, but I never stressed on Clem being innocent as much as remaining humane. And as much I want to believe that is up to my choices that will decide if she will stay like that or not, I still worry telltale might do a twist like they have the usual tendency to and change my opinion on Clem.
Compliment you on thread love depth went into in describing your point the down thumbs on this thread confuse me. I think it's just because they don't agree with your points but you deserve thumb just for level of detail you went into to explain your point of view.
Agree but this topic is always sensitive subject on this forum in past day actually changed my opinion because get play as two characters Innocent Clem and Badass Clem if want play as either i'll just replay the season good and fresh idea to totally change her character just to play as different sort of Clem and to be honest will all bullying she getting in season 2 i'm delighted she now matured as innocent clem wouldn't survive and be controlled while badass clem can stand up and fight zombie apocalypse and become the girl i always wanted her to be when trained her as lee.
The Clem i trained will not be bullied, harassed, abused or manipulated the clem i trained will save this world my little rambo so proud.
I agree with this though. I don't want Clementine to revert to her season one characterization, but that doesn't mean I want her to be sociopathic or cruel. I think the way they've done her character so far is pretty perfect. You can easily portray a loss of innocence and have Clem be self-reliant and a survivor without resorting to the shock tactics of having her lose her humanity.
Do you just want her to never grow up? If you want her to remain as pure as possible, then play her that way. A few "sour" faces here and there doesn't mean shes turning impure or evil.. the vast majority of her evil/immoral options really aren't even all that bad at this point.
I personally find her character growth to be awesome.
Clem can remain kind, empathic and understanding if those are the dialogue options you choose. Those are, in fact, the options I almost universally choose when playing her. The prospect of the Clem we knew from Season 1 being entirely destroyed by the horror and tragedy she has endured is simply too depressing to do otherwise.
That said, if Clem behaved in the same way she did when we first met her, it would be beyond absurd.
Thank you.
Finally, someone on this forum who feels the same way as I do. No matter what, I try to play Clem as closest as she would be perceived in S1. This includes having to allude to silence when I need to. With that said, I'm not a big fan of her personality in S2.
Your wish for her not to change is quite illogical in my opinion - I mean, if people grow up, they change without exception. More or less, but they do. Clem won't change to a heartless killer, I'm sure, but of course she will change to a bit colder and selfish person, that's for sure. I mean, when it was Season 1, she always had Lee. Always. The man who will comfort her and teach her. Not let her become heartless. But she had to shoot the man which was like a father to her. That must've left her a scar, and a deep one. So, I'm not surprised that she's becoming a bit less "beacon of light" and a bit more "selfish, cold survivor". She's all alone. Yet I still think she won't turn completely and she will keep her light, innocent her alive.
Why?
Just to echo: she needs to be how she is to survive. It's a cold, cruel world full of cold, cruel people.
That said, I'd give anything for Clem to settle down someplace just for a little while so she could let her hair down a bit and draw some more EPIC drawings/leaf shadows. I wonder where her artistic style would be after suffering so much loss? Last we left her was the Lee burying kid/dog picture. She was toeing the surprisingly thin line from cute to grim.
You make some good points, But you have to go back to Season 1 and come all the way to this Episode and take a moment to realize everything she's been through, She lost everyone she ever cared for and was forced to grow up in a world filled with Death and bad people no doubt the worst imaginable environment for a kid. I know a lot people that do not want her to become a "Badass" so to speak because it would be out of character or That's not what Lee taught her but in all honesty, Do you really think there's another way an 11 years old girl could survive out there ? We all start to change when we hit (Or are about to hit) puberty and I imagine you would change even more if you were surrounded by Zombies and people that want to hurt you.