Try not to let the Negatives outweigh the Positives in Season 2
Hi guys! Some of you may not like what I have to say, but please give my advice a try and you will view Season 2 in a completely different way.
Recently I've seen many threads being posted about how poorly TellTale has managed Season 2 so far. Threads complaining about the fact there's been multiple writers, the handling of certain character's deaths and that TellTale are developing too many games at once. All very valid reasons to be annoyed, but there's something that I've learnt that I think many other users on the forums could benefit from. Look past the things that annoy you!
Honestly, I made a thread a few weeks back because I wanted to let out my frustration about Sarah and Nick's deaths. I made points about how it was lazy writing and that TellTale should've given them somewhat meaningful ends after making them such diverse and fleshed out characters. All through the season so far I've been quick to judge TellTale on every mistake they make, and I mean every mistake! From Carlos the 'Doctor' not being able to notice the difference between a dog bite and a walker bite to Arvo's group attacking you even if you don't take his supplies.
All this until recently, when I decided to replay Season 2 Episodes 1 - 4 and look past all of my complaints and see how the story holds up. The game is automatically 10x better then my original playthrough! The story (whilst still not being as good as Season 1) is strong and whilst I'm still not able to get to know the characters extensively I still find myself attached to most of them. Episode 3 was much more intense when I'm not thinking to myself, "Why on Earth are all these perfectly capable adults making a little girl do all the work?"
My point is, if you (like me) have complained all through the season that it wasn't as good as it could've been, play through it again. And this time, try and enjoy it. I promise you won't regret it!
Comments
Here, Here! After my first play-through on episode 4 it left me emotionally exhausted and in complete shock. After calming down for a bit, decided to hit the forums and this place got a little crazy over time. You just can't let some details and people stop you from overall enjoying a video game, after all their for fun.
Focusing on the negatives does get pretty exhausting. When the story is at the top of its game, its one of the best goddamn ones ever told. We could certainly use a positivity thread.
This positivity thread is positively refreshing. While many of the complaints about Season 2 are valid, it's nice to have a thread that focuses on something other than the things that are wrong with the game.
It's kinda hard to enjoy the story when all my favorite characters get shit on and most of the characters I dislike are the ones being the most focused on.
Why thankyou, hopefully this thread can help many users look past the negatives and concentrate on the positives! As you said, it's refreshing!
That attitude's not very Useful, Ben. :P
If there's one thing Telltale handled well in S2 (IMO), it's Clementine's characterization. Or rather, it's how Telltale allowed us to shape Clem's character.
Before S2 began, there was concern among the fans that Clementine would slowly de-evolve into a depressing knock-off of Carl from the comic books/TV show. I'll always be grateful Telltale gave us the opportunity to NOT take that path with Clem, if we so chose. According to how you play, Clem can be a desensitized sociopath, or the same empathic girl we knew from S1, or something in between.
The episode isn't so bad when I play it the first time but when I come on the forums it makes he episode less enjoyable than it was.
A lot of people could indeed learn from this. Many act like one slight flaw ruins the entire thing (or several). So much so that it can blind them to the positives. And really, nothing is perfect (as I've stated before, don't mention season 1, though it was damned good and one of the best stories I've seen)
Everyone will find something to complain about, if it's good of bad.
I applaud you for playing the episodes through again and enjoying them. I have done the same and although there are various niggles in episodes 1,2 and 3 they are just that, niggles. Episode 4 though remains my biggest bugbear. It's just so poor, there's no excusing it.
If they had done that with season one, episode one The Walking Dead game would never have sold.
This is what is so frustrating. We know tell-tale can do much better, so what happened. Did they employ a trainee writer. I mean honestly, I have known ten year olds write a more coherent plot than that. It's so full of holes you could drive an Artic through them. Not only that, but the way the characters changed. Carver mainly. However i'm not going through all that again. All the characters suffered from bad dialogue and Jane, well all she was, was Molly that had plastic surgery. Then the Russians. I mean come on. Who the hell thought that would be a good idea. Yes we all know Americans hate Russians, so lets put some stereotypical Russian thugs in there so the majority of players immediately hate and despise them. While we're at it, we will add a Russian Ben lookalike so he is even more despised.
No, as I said, I am glad that you found enjoyment in the episodes after the replay. And if i'm honest, there were some decent bits even in Episode 4, but that's all they were bits. It could and should have been so much better.
That's impossible 'cause season 2 kinda sucks. Making Clementine the playable character was by far the worst decision they could make. I'm tired of playing as a weak character.
I've replayed the season a couple of times, and I still find the problems to be distracting. If anything, they're more distracting in subsequent playthroughs than they were in the first.
That said, I appreciate what you're doing with this thread. This season has had many shining, memorable moments. For example: I know I keep bringing him up, but I honestly loved Pete in the first two episodes. He actually felt like a real person, not a fictional character. We only know him for a small amount of time, yet we learn so much about him and his personality. An extremely well-written character, with true-to-life layers and emotions.
And Episode 2 as a whole was pretty damn great. It's easy to forget this, because of how disappointing Episode 3 was for me. But Episode 2 was amazing. The climax of this episode was one of the few moments in Season 2 that I feel recaptured the magic of the first season.
Also, Mike. Season 2 has Mike. That's all I'm gonna say.
Season 2 still sucks, and the writing is just horrible. Also telltale's job and hiring anybody as to pr to writers to designers, it's horrible. And no, I'm not excusing telltale's actions on this series and how they handled the greg miller fiasco. Sorry, just me.
Fair enough, I agree with you. But they can't go back and change what's been done, they can only improve in those areas for season 3 (and hopefully a decent send off for season 2). Whilst voicing our opinions will help TellTale see what their fans want, this community has gone overboard and is literally complaining about the same things over and over...
The best we can do now is enjoy Season 2 for what it is and see what TellTale does with the complaints from the fans. Hopefully change will come.
I'm glad someone sees this season as it is: An acceptable addition to the franchise that has a small number of issues. I absolutely adore what Telltale have done with Clementine and I like how they're constantly pushing this idea that she needs to entirely lose her innocence in order to survive... They're giving the player the ability to decide whether Clem succumbs to that or instead remains idealistic. Choices barely affect the story now, but I do love how much freedom's been given to the player in terms of the way in which Clem herself develops.
Overall it's been fun so I don't feel swindled or angry like a lot of people seem to. I have high hopes that Episode 5 will be fantastic and Season 3 will be nicely ironed out as a result of the feedback the writers have received from this season.
Just gonna put this reply here to say that Pete... awesome. I completely agree. In my opinion he was one of the best characters of Season 2. I always go with him in Episode 1.