Let's talk about postive things in Season 2! *Possible Spoilers*
Now, I'm aware that some are worried that Season 2 is either given too much criticism than it deserves on this forum while others are adamant that Season 2 has no redeeming qualities altogether, and both sides are very commonly talked about on this forum. Some are even worried that all the negativity will cause a strain on the overall morale on this forum and with the upcoming Season 3 game.
So I create this thread to encourage everyone to find something positive about Season 2 that most can agree on. For instance:
- The character and environment design is attractive and fits the theme of the story well.
- While they were alive and before their deaths, we had relatable and potentially dynamic characters such as Nick, Sarah, and Walter.
- The cast were very diverse in terms of ethnicity, gender, motivations, etc.
Please try to refrain from posting overly negative comment and opinions non-stop. Try to come up with some positive opinions even if you didn't like Season 2 as a whole, there must have been something you liked or caught your eye.
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Comments
I really do appreciate you making a thread like this, I know Season 2 gets a lot of shit but I love it nonetheless, as do many people.
I just want to warn you though, there will be people who come here and say nothing good happened, everything about Season 2 was shit, etc. So just be prepared.
Positives? Um...
-Confirmation that Clementine found Christa and Omid
-Kenny coming back (yeah yeah, I know others hated this)
-Clementine remembering what Lee taught her
-AJ being a symbol of hope for the future
-Multiple endings
I'm willing to take the risk, and thank you for contributing.
I really loved the plotline of episode 2. and the end of episode 5 was a home run.
Such a sad ending (Kenny/Wellington). I hate to cry over it, but did.
Although almost all the characters died in this story, I still enjoyed interacting with them and listening to their stories.
Clementine actually growing from her season 1 self and becoming very capable, dependable, and wise little munchkin (despite her lack of book-learning).
I love how brutal/dark the story can be without trying to be edgy and include stuff like rape or a romantic relationship.
The music in this game is beautiful. So much more I can compliment, but that's all for now.
Nuff said
The look of the environments and I like the music.
Hmm... Well.. There is Clementine, she has same voice... and there was Omid, Christa and Kenny came back... and Lee appeared in last episode... Hmm... Yup, that's it.
You know, I realized everything positive in this season was copied from the first one.
I got it when it was like 75% off steam sale the second time i bought it, so it was like 5 bucks.
Totally agree...
the animations and artwork were superb along with the music...
I would also like to add, god knows where TT get there voice actors from but for the most part they are some of the best ive heard in any game... the voice acting is 2nd to none..
postitives...for me?
Repost, im sorry
I liked season 2 more than 1, the storyline was better imo. Presentation was also way better, better graphics and voice acting was also way better overall.
I liked Sarah too, i wish her and Clementine could of been Tag Team Partners in S3.
But NOPE
The dinner scenes in 201 and 202 were pretty good. I enjoyed the moments with Sarah (well... most of them). Nick's infamous "Luke, he's becoming a danger to the group." or "I know where the fucking river is.". The entire atmosphere in Ep1 and 2. Carver's first appearance was pretty interesting. The moment where Clem climbs the ladder with Luke below. The list is pretty big but I don't want to type forever.
That would have been great, I will admit that Sarah had a lot of wasted potential. I was hoping that Carlos' death would have been great for her development since she would no longer have her dad there to protect her and force her to grow up like Clementine has. But instead, the writers of Amid the Ruins said, "Fuck you Sarah, there's no place for you in The Walking Dead."
Kenny's return was one my fav parts of Season 2
The Clementine character as a whole was well done.
Kenny coming back. Loved his character since day one.
The flashback in episode five.
The ending that finishes with Kenny and Clementine, walking off together. Beautiful and the canon ending in my opinion.
There were a lot of characters that I found really interesting even if I feel the writers didn't develop them to their full potential, nice environment and music. That's what I liked.
Going with the art style/art design: I love the addition of outlines. I think it better invokes the comic style that they strived for in the first season. It also helps characters stand out better from the backgrounds, stopping them from blending in, which made some scenes just look awkward in the first season.
Color is something that I felt improved for the better. While it still uses a fairly drained color palette, they expanded on it, making it a bit nicer on the eyes at points. It's not overly flamboyant, but it isn't overly bleak, either. I feel they struck a better balance in terms of colors and palettes than the first season did.
Like many have said, environments are more robust and sharper. They look better, they're more expansive, and they're more ambitious. Things like the overall improvements to texture quality, the color palette and evolution of the art style serve to benefit in making these environments feel even more alive than before.
And one other big one for me: zombie models. First off, they finally used better texture resolution for all the old models, and thank fucking christ that they did. Zombies were just god-awful to look at in the first season. Their textures were more horrifying than the zombies themselves, and for some reason they were intent on continuing to use close-ups on them all the time. Beyond that, though, I like that they got a lot more ambitious in the variation between models. Even on the older models, they started to add more variations in the appearances. They've also slowly started phasing out the older season 1 models, using a lot more unique models this time around, namely for the various fight scenes or otherwise important walkers (like that motherfucker who bit Nick). The newer models are a welcome edition, as they feel much more up-to-date and fitting than older ones, and add a sense of evolution and decay. This was one of the first aspects that I started to notice in the second season, and one of the most welcomed changes.
While on that subject, gore is another thing they got a bit more ambitious with, specifically when it came to additions to the character models. Things like having Pete torn open and disemboweled, Carver's face post-crowbar, more visible gunshot wounds, and various other cuts and bruises are all welcomed changes. Season 1 had its moments, but when people got shot or torn open by walkers, there wasn't as much variation in that regard. Just a lot of blood to hide everything and the usual intestine getting pulled out. This also carries over to zombies as well. Things like the shed walker getting impaled on the anchor and having his guts spill out, or completely hacking up walker Nick, or cutting them open in order to cover yourself in guts are a lot more visceral. I feel this is for the better, too. Zombies with notable wounds or grievous injuries tend to be more disturbing than just having them be shot or stabbed with no visible cuts or gaping holes afterwards.
That also seg-ways into another little detail I liked. Zombie fights themselves. I liked how they were aware that Clementine was still a little girl. At first it's jarring why it takes you multiple swings at times to finally kill a lone walker, but then you start to realize how fitting it is, and how it honestly adds to the experience. I feel the newer 'gameplay' mechanics this time around (moving to the sides, multiple objects to pick up, different spots to attack them) add to the experience, and makes fights feel more frantic, like you're scrambling to pick up the nearest object and do the first thing that comes to mind in an attempt to kill it.
Also, the music. Jared's a great composer, and he's continued to do a fantastic job on the second season. Also, the use of songs during the credits. The credit tracks added a lot of personality to the endings, even to the episodes themselves.
Animation-wise, I felt that there was a definite improvement, specifically with the facial animations. One of the problems with Season 1 is a lot of the facial animations had a tendency to go stiff, or awkwardly transition, which made a lot of scenes look unintentionally hilarious. Now I'm not saying that it's flawless in Season 2, but lip-syncing and the overall quality of the facial animations felt much more smooth and fluid than in Season 1. General animation quality is still hit-and-miss at times, but it still feels like an improvement for the most part, at least to me. Some people say otherwise, but I don't personally agree.
Multiple endings is another good thing. More choice in a choice-based game? While its going to be trouble making Season 3 work well with all of the endings, we can at least savor them and accept them for what they are in the meantime.
Voice acting is still top notch (about the only bad performance would be Kumail/Reggie, and Buricko, although since Buricko's just a throwaway that has like 6 lines total, I wouldn't consider him a big deal.)
Cinematography and direction are still great (honestly, the cinematography has always been one of the most underrated parts of the game across both seasons. Not enough people give them credit for all the amazing camera shots and what such)
I feel that some of the emotions were still brilliantly captured through-out. You have some really great tension-filled scenes, the confrontation between Nick and Walter, the hostage situation at the lodge, the cliffhanger to Amid the Ruins, and many more. While it may not be as sad as Season 1 on some fronts, I still find there to be a fair share of poignant scenes that still hit fairly hard. Mileage varies between people, though. Sometimes things just work, other times they don't. For me though, I still felt that Season 2 was successful on eliciting emotion.
There were a good amount of scenes that I indeed found sad throughout the season, scenes that made me angry, scenes that surprised me, scenes that left me feeling hopeless, scenes that made me feel hopeful, scenes that made me happy, scenes that made me laugh. As long as the game can continue to elicit those responses from me, then it's all good. It's when apathy sets in that the formula has to change (and I still think it does to a degree, namely regarding character deaths. Telltale takes "anyone can die" a bit too seriously. I know that's a selling point of the franchise, but come on, you don't have to slaughter the entire cast each season.)
And of course, performance. The game has gotten moderately better when it comes to the stuttering and freezing that plagued the first season at times. Still not perfect, but its a definite improvement. It's also better at handling more things going on on screen at once. Things like the herd scene from the end of episode 3/beginning of episode 4 is a lot more robust from a technical standpoint than it's counterpart at the end of No Time Left, for example.
Those are most of the things right off the top of my head. I think there's a lot of fantastic moments throughout the season in terms of writing and design, but those start getting a lot more subjective than most of the above points.
-The graphics & scenery are prettier.
-The expressions on the characters are smoother.
-The quick time events are a fun step up from Season 1.
-The music has reaaaally gotten gooooood!
-Playing as Clementine.
-Kicking butt as Clementine.
-Threatening a pregnant woman as Clementine, and actually getting away with it.
-Eating a can of beans.
Sarah's death also serves to make Carlos' death meaningless. Why even kill him off if you're just going to kill Sarah off before she even gets the chance to grow as a character because of it?
The best post here yet. There's not one thing here I didn't agree with.
Why is eating a can of beans a pro? Also, I'm surprised you didn't say Luke as one of your pros. Other than that, I agree with what you said.
i wanted sarah to have gone insane, but never lose her overall simple minded spirit, i saw her as hopeful and maybe she could realize how bad the world is, without becoming cold and unlikable
Clem and Kenny leaving together. Best ending ever.
Because beans, glorious beans....despite the fact I don't like beans, but it was so satisfying opening that can.
And that's not it, Luke never fully got developed so he's not really a pro for that. Of the cabin group, he's a my favorite character of course, like Nick and Sarah are.
If I can call a pro with Luke in it with just putting that favorite character stuff aside, it'd be the dynamic between him and Clementine, because after Lee, that was something I just completely fell in love with. It was fresh seeing this sibling banter going on instead of a father daughter one like in Season 1, and the pair worked so well off each other too. The way those two interacted wasn't two characters forced into being buddies for the sake of the plot, it just came off really natural, and yet differed from how Clem interacted with other characters like Nick or Bonnie, who came across as fellow survivors/friends of the group; Luke and Clem, the pair almost felt like family in those scenes they had alone together, like how Kenny and Clem were to each other too this season, although I wish we could've traded a few more depressing times with Kenny for more chilling uncle time.
But yeah, that bro/sis dynamic, even if it never went anywhere in the end, a big pro...I'm not crying ;_;
It's okay, let it out.
[cries on your shoulder] why, who the fudge thought Jane could replace him? ;_; who thought scrapping something this good was a good idea!? They were so damn beautiful you confounded rewrites!
If it ain't broke don't fix it!
The answer to that would be Nick Breckon, Pierre Shorette, and I'm going to assume Dan Connors and Kevin Bruner since they are the executive producers. And while it may have been better to keep him alive, Jane and Kenny makes more sense than Luke and Kenny. It would be completely out of character for Luke to really get into a fight with Kenny, whether he was the aggressor or not, and Kenny, while he didn't get along with Luke, respects him enough that he wouldn't fight him. I can't see Luke doing something like what Jane did nor can I see Kenny actually wanting to fight Luke, it would have been really strange, at least that's how I look at it.
Well it looks much nicer, the character body and facial movements have been improved, and it runs smoother. Nick, Walter, and Matthew were interesting characters, Sarah was likeable, Alvin was likeable, the first and second episode are decent, and the music is nice.
You know, I think on PC and next gen consoles, the textures on the S1 zombies are MUCH better handled.
I'm sure they could've figured something out, different characters would lead to a different outcome. And I don't know, the whole hiding the baby thing was dumb.
Oh ;_; I need hot chocolate...hey, aren't we supposed to be talking about the positives? Come on man.
Good point.
To be honest, i didn't really think much of her the first two episodes. She was a little awkward but i didn't hate her. I didn't choose to be her friend because honestly that is asking a lot from someone like me. I am a terrible friend sometimes. Anyhow...
I felt protective of this girl, when she got slapped by her Father. My cold icy heart melted, and I felt bad for her. I felt really bad when i had to physically abuse her to save her life. As someone who was disciplined with physical abuse, it makes you feel like a monster (even sim abuse), when you are doing it to someone else, Regardless of the reason.
Carver was right, i was like him. I forced my will on her. It didn't matter the reason. After all that emotional turmoil with her, for myself. The last thing i remember her saying was her father would be returning to the cabin after we all knew he was dead.
I just shook my head in disbelief, after all that. I shook my fist at the sky, and shouted expletives at my television screen. .