If Telltale is smart, there won't be a Kenny vs Luke decision *possible spoilers*
There has been a lot of debate over who is the rightful guardian or associate for Clementine, and it appears that Telltale could end up making the final decision between choosing Kenny or Luke. The main design flaw is how incredibly unbalanced it is and how poorly thought out it could potentially turn out in the final episode. To start off with, the majority of the players are familiar enough with Kenny to bond with him and barely know enough about Luke to understand him.
We've seen Kenny's story in eight episodes within two seasons, and saw him struggle through losing his family, his friends, and his girlfriend. Kenny's backstory was that he used to be a commercial fisherman until the apocalypse came and threatened the lives of his loved ones. We've seen Kenny struggle with leadership trouble and anger issues, both which lead to commit establishing/controversial actions that either strengthened or break his bond with Lee and Clementine. His return in Season 2 had only helped strengthen the bond with Clementine after the harshly treatment she had endured in S2 Episode 1, caused by the misguided and overly paranoid cabin group.
As for Luke, he's still remains a mystery and a frustrating character. He had been featured in four episodes, and we still barely know enough about him to care about him, if we were to hold him with the same standards as Kenny's. All we know is that he was best friends with Nick for a good twenty years, and they had used to do business together in the past. That's about it. Not to mention that unlike Kenny, he has yet to have a scene where he makes an establishing/controversial choice that defines his character, and if had one it was off-screen or implied to have happened off-screen. Some would also argue that he's a victim of bad writing as his characterisation has tendencies to shift around with no build-up foreshadowing, as most evident with his lack of credible reaction to Nick's passing in both scenarios, even though it was stated that they were best friends of around twenty years, and was more upset with Jane, a person he had know for perhaps less than a day, leaving after their...incident...between the two of them when they were alone together.
Looking at the candidates, Kenny is clearly the winner by default. If Telltale goes through with the final choice between the two, then I'm hoping that there's a catch, since I cannot imagine why Telltale would think that Luke has a chance to stand against Kenny when so far he's barely a credible character in his own right compared to him, and his actions in previous episode had only made him look worse no thanks to what happened between him and Jane. Even Mike, a new character, looks to have a better chance than Luke does so far.
So I stand by my statement that if Telltale was smart, there is not going to be a Kenny vs Luke moment. Telltale should instead focus on finally giving what Luke needs which is what Kenny has, a credible characterisation and an establishing/controversial moment that will help endear him to the players after having been disappointed with the writing with Luke's character throughout Season 2. They need to make Luke matter in Clementine's story, and unless Telltale shapes up, Luke is going to end up written out because Telltale doesn't know what to do with him, and end up wasting so much potential with Luke. But then again, considering how we only have one episode left, perhaps it's already too late.
Anyway, that's just my two cents. Feel free to make a comment on what you think about the potential Kenny vs Luke decision in Episode 5 and whether it's a good idea or a bad idea.
Comments
I honestly don't think its gonna be about Kenny and Luke. That would be way to predictable and telltalegames is anything but predictable.
Honestly Kenny or Luke is the most predictable thing ever, since episode 2 its been predicted. I hope it dosnt happen
I hope it's something like Mike or Bonnie.THAT would be unpredictable.
I think Telltale is smart already... even with all the hate, they still manage to get everyone excited for the next episode, we shouldn't always get what we ask for.... many people kept asking TTG to kill of characters like Larry & Sarah, and then they complain about it, mainly with Sarah's death. I kind of think it's a good time for a decision between two character, but I also don't think it's the very right time.
I hope it's a decision between Mike and Bonnie.THAT would be unpredictable.
I disagree. Not that Luke/Kenny would be predictable, I absolutely agree with you in that regard, but I wouldn't say that Telltale are entirely unpredictable. Kenny returning? A great many people seemed to predict that. Nick's unsatisfactory death in Episode 4? A lot of people seemed to predict that. I agree with the OP insofar as it would be a very one-sided choice but, in all honesty, I think that at this point Telltale have built up such an event to such an extent that they probably HAVE to implement such a thing.
"it's a trap. I know it"
I certainly agree that Kenny has had way more time to be established. I disagree that this means Kenny wins by default.
I cannot stand the guy. I was disappointed when he suddenly turned up in season 2, and I would be a happy camper if I could somehow ensure his untimely demise/otherwise be certain never to see him again.
But going by your argument, one could probably say that Kenny returning was the biggest problem. If it had been two fresh characters and we were forced to choose between them, then at least they'd both have gotten equal screen time.
Some people predicted Kenny vs Lilly too, but guess what happened to Lilly?
It's probably connected to raccoon! The raccoon will raise the baby!
"The raccoon will raise the baby," is that a racial remark to Mike? Saying that the 'raccoon' will raise the baby? Utter racist!
So what would you prefer? Having them both cut down by gunfire in the first thirty seconds of episode 5?
This. The way Telltale handled two of my favorite characters this season makes me really frustrated and upset : they kicked Christa out of the show right at the beginning and made me start to like Luke and his big brother-ish relationship with Clem just to ruin his character a few episodes later. As you've said, Luke's personality changes all the time with absolutely no build up: I wouldn't have minded that they've decided to make him unlikable as long as they'd done it properly.A few decent hubs might've been able to do the job.
Yeah, I personally think it'd be more fair if it was a choice between Bonnie and Mike... man, that would be the hardest choice yet for me O.o
are you serious?
Calm down
Honestly, I don't think they will do a hoice. It means the other will end up dying by the end of the episode, and it will most likely be rushed like the other determined deaths this season. Players want both Kenny and Luke to have a meaningful goodbye, not the rushed determined deaths that have been occurring this season.
I disagree. Sure, Kenny's had plenty of time to be established, but he's also had plenty of time to show us how fucked up he's becoming. Kenny's familiar. We know he'll be loyal if we're loyal to him. Unfortunately, agreeing with him could eventually be the death of us, as he doesn't always make the best decisions
Luke's a bit confusing, and, well, I think that's the point. It seems like he wants to look after Clem, but he's voiced his doubts about your choices. He's capable most of the time, but he tends to make SERIOUS mistakes as a result of giving into temptation (Stealing the food from Carver and having sex with Jane, for example). The Cabin group treats him as a leader along with Carlos, but we don't know what kind of things he's done in the past to earn that role. He's kind and considerate, but we don't know if that will get in the way of Clem's survival, or help her.
Is going with him a good idea? Maybe. Maybe not. We don't know him well enough. And that's what makes deciding between the two so difficult. Maybe Luke is better than Kenny. Maybe he's worse. We can't know until we get to know him more.
I don't think there will be a Kenny vs Luke decision. I can see them at some point during episode 5 putting aside their differences and working together to protect Clementine and the baby. I predict that once these two work together, we will get to a scene where the two will sacrifice themselves to buy Clementine time to get her and the baby to safety.
No, we cannot allow racism to exist, we must smite him down now before his views spread!
Kenny: I left him(Luke) alive, but barely. After all, killing him would be uncalled for.
If we do have that choice then I think it would make it harder to choose between them if they actually started working together in episode 5. They both put their differences behind them and then we get to see good things from both of them.
Totally agree with you. The hubs would have been able to solve three of the majors problems of this season: The characters development, the lenght of the episodes, and the choices that doesn't quite matter (for example, the characters would interact differently depending on which choices you made like watching Carver or leaving Sarah... Etc)
Anyway, I love this season but I can't deny that it would be even more awesome with hubs.
As long as the decision actually changes the story more, then it would be alright....