What I didn't like in Season Two (SO FAR)
I'm not gonna act like Season Two's episodes are perfect (and to be fair, not all of Season One's episodes are either), but even though I really enjoyed them, I honestly do have some minor complaints about each episode,
ALL THAT REMAINS
- That 16 month gap
I really don't know how else I would've tackled this if I was writing for this episode. But Season One took place in the span of 3-4 months. And to have this be 16 months? There's so much potential for a story right there! Oh well. That's really the only complaint I can give it. It was an introduction episode and it did it's job well.
A HOUSE DIVIDED
This is more of a nitpick, but you know after you go with Nick, he and Clementine are keeping the door closed to keep out the walkers? Well if you tell him to find something to barricade the door with, Clementine yells, "Where are you going?!"
Then after barricading the door, she asks, "what's wrong with you?" This is a continuity issue that could've easily been fixed, but it's honestly the only complaint that I have with this episode. The narrative was flowing, the characters were awesome, and the scope of the thing is just huge. It just felt like a really big and epic episode.
IN HARM'S WAY
I did mention that I couldn't get into Kumail Nanjiani as Reggie a while back but after playing through a second time, I may have been a bit too harsh on him. Was he perfect? No. But given the cards he was dealt, he still did offer the best that he could.
- Not a lot of interactivity
During the berry picking scene, I was getting ready to pick 'em, but when I made my decision and watched the scene transition minutes later with a basket full of berries, I was mildly disappointed. Of course I'm not too upset that I didn't get pick berries, but still it was misleading.
Also walking outside near the comic book store after Bonnie sent me there, I was getting ready to control Clementine to move around. It was just a cutscene and I was like, "Oh. Well okay then."
- Only one location
The reason why this episode felt short to me was because, unlike it's predecessors, it doesn't really take us across several different locations, making it feel a little minuscule in comparison.
And that's honestly it. Season Two's really meeting up to my expectations and each episode never ceases to amaze me. The stuff that's good is really fucking good. I appreciate honest-to-God effort put into games, movies and TV. Telltale, keep it up!
Comments
I know we were able to sneak around the cabin in episode one, but I would have liked a part where we were free to roam around. Or a sequence where during the five day hike they stopped for the night, set up camp for the meantime, and we were able to walk around and talk to people. This way we could ask them about their lives pre-apocalypse, how they're feeling about this person or that person, and how they're feeling in general.
As for Carver's community, we also could have been given an assignment where we were able to walk around while delivering stuff to different areas and people. That way we could explore, interact with objects and people, eavesdrop on conversations, and get to know the layout of the building. I know the guards are too strict to let any prisoner go off alone but still. It would have been cool.
Omid and Christa. I don't have a problem with Omid dying that early, nor with Clementine getting separated from Christa... well a little on the latter, but I guess it was done for the sake of development for Clem, ah I digress. It feels like we missed out something going into the first scene of the episode. The scene loses its impact for me because it just... happens. We are given little context, little interaction or reintroduction for those two and then BLAM!, Omid's dead. I would have put at least a scene before that. Effective and sudden welcome back gut punch? Eh, you decide.
I am not a fan of the 16 month jump, either, but still have not come up with good alternatives to it. All That Remains is... an acquired taste for me. Most of the things I like about the episode come with their very own con. I liked the establishment of Clementine as a protagonist and a capable survivor in the episode, but dislike her being alone for the most of it, because TWD works better for me within a group. Again, this is not Clementine's fault or that I cannot appreciate her as a character; I think it was very atmospheric and presented her strengths and limitations nicely... but to me the most important development a protagonist in games like these can get is the way the cast reacts to us. Weird phrasing, I know, I hope I can clear that up later.
The introduction to the new cast was something that I thought was very interesting. We come as an outsider and a potential - though quite frankly handable - threat. I did not like the way that some characters acted like, because I feel like it conflicts with their later characterization. I could have dealt with that couple of assholes if they had stayed assholes or if the progression had been more gradual. As it stands right now, it seem like they became different people from one episode to another. Was the change justified? Yes, even hinted at, you may point out; it just does not work for me that well.
The presentation and the way that we initially got to know the cast by picking up snippets of information as we sneaked around the cabin, I liked. What I did not like was the brief proper introduction time late on, and the lack of "group action" and involvement in what little remained of the episode. Done in the name of consistency to what was happening at the time? Yes, I can see that, but I can think of a couple of more scenes where Clementine could have interacted with this people a bit more without them having to immediately trust her (That happens in A House Divided). Done to set up that theme of trust that TT talked about in interviews before release? This is what I hoped it was, and that made me play my Clem very carefully around these new people. Ultimately, that leads nowhere. We are stuck with this group and there is little reason not to trust them, since we are in this together now.
There is a notable (see the bajillion threads about that) absence of interactivity throughout the season. I think that In Harm's Way was actually the worst "offender" on this. Once more, it is difficult to put "gameplay" in a Telltale game to a definition, but I think most people know what I'm talking about when I say "lack of gameplay". This is still a game, and many come into this expecting a good story, right, not the latest, most innovative zombie slasher... and yet people complain about lack of gameplay in a gameplay light series. It is the lack of agency this time around I think. Yes, the evil hubs come into play here, too.
There is little of the gameplay that we came to expect from S1, which, IMHO was a good tool for the development of both characters (by exposition and simple, you know, human interaction), pacing (debatable, but things seem too rushed in Season Two to me. Then again: Themes!), set appreciation (I miss the bloody obvious things Lee kept saying and some were actually telling of the state of the group) and wait for it... the development of the protagonist itself. I got back to that, I thought I would forget about it.
See, this could have been done without the hubs, but not even the current approach handles it: Clementine. We know Clementine, or at least knew eight year old Clementine. Making her, well, us had to be handled with care. Choice and consequence had to play a bigger role this time around, at least to what Clementine concerned. Developing her (and I think any RPG protagonist, for that matter), a former, very distinct and defined NPC through our actions should be done in a way so that we can also see it. Much like in real life, we don't realize sometimes that we've changed, matured, evolved without either reflections of our own or what others make us see through their words. That Carver choice at the end of Ep 3 better have an impact on how the group sees Clem, or I will literally punch my monitor.
There are other things in my mind, but I think I will join in on the discussion as they are touched upon individually on this thread. Otherwise, I shall make another wall-o'-text later.
Not letting us walk around the cabin in episode 2 still stands as the biggest potential waste for me
Taken from here http://the-walking-dead-interviews.wikia.com/wiki/Jessica_Brezzo_Interview
Cutting stuff that would have been great for character development... bravo, Telltale
...
TGTBTD SMASH!!!
I wanted a couple of fresh brookies for dinner! You could have it all go to shit after that, but the brookies, Telltale!
Damn it, that would have been awesome.
Now this is the reason why S1 is worlds apart from S2, i have NO IDEA why Telltale would backtrack there ways in creating a game that won numerous GOTY awards. Get some damn character development going again like back in S1... and maybe stop working on 3-4 games at the same damn time
Quality over quantity...
Then after barricading the door, she asks, "what's wrong with you?" This is a continuity issue that could've easily been fixed, but it's honestly the only complaint that I have with this episode. The narrative was flowing, the characters were awesome, and the scope of the thing is just huge. It just felt like a really big and epic episode.
I think it's because he left her, a weaker person than himself, to hold the door while he got something, when he could have told Clementine to get it.
That ain't gonna happen. They're gonna do that which brings in more money, and that means cheap, on-rails dialogue choosers with the occasional quick time event.
I'd have no problem with this if they didn't advertise ''choice'' so much. When I think ''choice'' I think ''I can switch sides, I can choose to go independent, I can be sadistic or merciful and end the story in a different way'' (coughNew Vegas cough). I don't think ''small cosmetic changes which amount to nothing in the end.
(?) X will remember that. Apparently not.
I did not go into S2 expecting New Vegas style of branching (but I drool thinking about it), but expecting them to stick to the few ways that made our choices matter back in S1, and hopefully show some improvement. As of now, I see a de-evolution of even that basic choice and consequence system we had then.
Ha, I thought too that the game was gonna let us pick the berries. Afterall it was a cutscene. And the scene where Clem is walking near the comic book store I too thought it was going to be interactive.
Perhaps Telltale could have used these scenes to add more interactivity and length for the Episode.
Consider yourself lucky, I get a 2 hour erection just by remembering my various playthroughs of NV.
In Episode 1, Sam bits Clem but Clem just got the scar on one side of the arm.
In Episode 3, they say the group is really big, but we almost didn't saw anyone there.
I really wanted to read this...
She says that Episode 4 is her favourite one, omg ! :O
You should probably see a doctor about that.
Just sayin'.
Nah. I should only be worried if it lasts more than 4 hours. 2 is a pleasant medium.
... was that a TL;DR?
I think staying to watch Kenny kill Carver will have a huge impact. I hope.
The lack of new ideals in season 2 like milking the cutoff your limb after getting bitten and spreading zombie guts to avoid walkers.Please come up with something new this season.They really missed an oportunity killing off carver too soon they could have escaped and carver could have relentlesly followed them to wellington for the final showdown
Yeah, or when Clementine was going for the radios at night, Clem should've had to explore the entire camp to find them with a lot of stealthy interactivity involved and with better cameos from the 400 days characters.
I love this season's story .It's getting better and better. But like i said , we need more hubs to explore - and a little bit longer game to play
You know it.
I don't think I've ever been that satisfied from reading a message this large. Well put and said, friend!