I actually like All That Remains a lot more now.
You know how most of us were not very pleased about the first episode of Season Two so we just assume that's how the rest is gonna be. I'll admit that I really enjoyed this episode even though it did have some technical issues.
But now that I have the next 2 chapters, I feel like I don't mind what I didn't like in this episode, and I actually found myself really liking it. Here's why:
I think the main reason why a lot of people didn't like it was due to how short it was compared to some fan-favourite episodes from Season One. I guessed that it did make sense until I realized something: It's only 1/5 of a game that I'm playing. It doesn't seem fair to judge a whole company's potential by analyzing each part of one game that was released. I no longer see All That Remains as one separate game. I just see it as a part of a game that I liked but wasn't my absolute favourite. Now that I have more episodes I can continue on and really get into what the game has in store for me.
Let's take The Last Of Us as an example. How would you like it if each section was released every two months like this:
- Episode One: Beginning - escaping the Quarantine Zone
- Episode Two: Bill
- Episode Three: Pittsburgh - Sam and Henry's goodbye
- Episode Four: Tommys - University
- Episode Five: Winter
- Episode Six: The rest
Imagine getting each episode every 2 months and having to wait for the next. Does it make sense to judge each episode as one game or to judge the whole series as one. It's hard to imagine The Last Of Us like this, but this is just how Telltale does it. It's basically like TV.
I love Game Of Thrones, Breaking Bad and Avatar. But that doesn't mean I love every single episode. When it comes to a series you really enjoy, you will always have your favourites and least-favourites. My least favourite episode in Season One for example is Around Every Corner, but that doesn't mean I hate it. It just means there were episode that I liked a lot more.
The point I'm trying to make is don't judge a whole game based on the next chapter that comes out. To say that Season Two sucks because you didn't like the newest episode even though you liked the past episodes? It just doesn't make any sense. To me, at least. When the last 2 chapters come out, then we can actually judge the whole game for what it is.
Comments
You just explain how I feel about the season. I guess maybe this is why I don't feel THAT disappointed as everyone else.
I've always thought it was a decent enough pilot episode. Much like A New Day.
Do you now?
...Well...this is awkward.
I've always enjoyed All That Remains. I've defended it before and I'd do it again. The walking kind of dragged a bit, I admit, but I really liked the whole "lost in the wilderness all alone" scenario, and there were some fairly decent hub areas I thought, with the destroyed camp and especially the cabin. You could explore and listen in on conversations all while there was this tense mood hovering over everything. Of course, it was a lot less free than season 1, but was well done for the mood they were going for. There's also yet to be an action scene as cool or as gripping as the Winston "boss" fight, in my opinion.
The only reason I didn't like the first episode that much is because the whole episode pretty much consisted of fucked up things happening to Clem. like just getting continuously screwed over lol
Ah, but she endures... that's the valuable thing.
It can be seen from a certain point of view as Telltale telling us, the players and former surrogate parents/caretakers of our girl that she is not untouchable; that we are not Lee anymore, who can protect her like he used to anymore. No, what All That Remains did right in my eyes was proving to the people in the cabin, but also to ourselves that Clementine is growing up, and as of that moment, in a way that would make Lee proud. Oh, and that this time, we are Clementine
You can choose whatever option you like the best when you finish the shed scene, but Still.Not.Bitten. is arguably the most powerful of them all.
...tips hat and walks out
And that's why I will always pick that dialogue option whenever I replay this episode.
Funny, I actually thought the bit with Clementine lost in the woods should have lasted longer. Maybe have her spend a whole night by herself. Really nail home the fact that she still isn't quite ready to be by herself yet.
I have come to appreciate it more as time goes by, yes. However, it is the fact that it was the premiere, the story foundation on which the season was going to be built upon, that it left things to be desired. Well, that and that it was the first episode to show what new creative decisions and streamlining were going to be like.
The first "half" with Clem on her own I enjoyed, but I was looking forward the most to the parts where TWD shines the most: the characters and their interactions. When I woke up to the unfamiliar faces of the cabin group, I was as excited as much as I was worried for Clem.
The introduction of Clementine into a group with baggage that makes them weary of a girl like her was interesting, in concept. Although morally and even practically questionable, the action of locking her in the shed and the consequent faux sneak sequence was - and still is - a highlight of the episode. You got to acquaint yourself with who these people were by eavesdropping and a few tense encounters while sneaking around. This was done well, and it was an immersive enough sequence.
Then, the dinner sequence came, and we got to spend more time speaking with the new cast. It was a good reflexive moment, if a bit... cluttered. A little more freedom would have been welcome. Here I got to see the first of what I thought would be the inner conflicts within the group with Carlos and Rebecca... which sadly ultimately led to nowhere and is still a thing I criticize from this season overall. Then, TT makes a cheap blow to our feels with that conversation with Luke. Damn you.
This looked like Act 2, to me. I had hoped for a couple more scenes with these people before the abrupt finale and final choice. Hell, I had hoped for a couple more at the beginning, too, with the reintroduction of Omid and Christa, but eh. Conceptually, I would pair the first scenes of A House Divided with this episode.
Here's the thing, though: It plays more like a movie. Take that as you will, I think you know my stance on the subject. I am of the mind that, in the end, it still feels like it's missing things. I have put a lot of names to it, over the months, but that is not the point of this post. Here, I was going to express the things I like the most of my least favorite episode.