You can finish a Telltale* game, But you can never win.
I have played only 3 of the many games that Telltale* has to offer. And while the hard work, dedication, animation, and game structure are all exemplary (this much I do not dispute), There has been no way to win them. Oh sure, you can finish the game, and with numerous possible endings. But, that doesn't mean you win. For example: In "Game of thrones" no matter what your actions or your choices there is no conceivable way for the forresters to win against the whitehills. Likewise, in "the walking dead" season one, you still die at the end no matter what you do. So, is it possible to finish the games? Yes it is. But nothing I have seen thus far makes me feel like a winner once the game is over. What do you think?
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TellTale:
That's probably because choices don't matter a lot.
But why Telltale with a ''*''?
Have you played Tales from the Borderlands? That has an ending that might satisfy you.
Who says you're supposed to feel like you won?
Well, both GoT and TWD are meant to be depressing stories, so I'd say a depressing ending is kinda fitting.
Not all their games end gloomy, though.
I completely agree with you. They say "The story is tailored by how you play.", but that is an outright lie. Most of the time, your choices effect the game in the most insignificant ways, like a single line of dialogue. (other times it won't matter even that much) No matter how world shattering your choice might seem, you will still see exactly the same cutscene if you made a different choice and the ending is barely effected by your in game choices if at all. So it is a total lie, and even the word "choice" is an illusion in Telltale games. Sure, it says "......... will remember this." but most of the time, there won't be anything in the game to reflect that. (and sometimes, the character who is supposed to remember will die a minute later)
TL;DR: Basically, your choices doesn't matter, it is all a lie. Even when your choices seem to matter (barely) it will only alter a single line of dialogue and most of the time, not even that. Nothing will effect the ending of the game except your final choice.
But as long as they offer a good enough story, we overlook that and choose to pretend our choices do matter. I wish our choices really did matter though.
You won in season 1 of TWD. Clem was saved. In GoT you win - few Forresters survived the massacre, one Whitehill's termite bites the dust.
You've lost when you paid for GoT, TWD s2, or Batman game.
That is not exactly true though, come to think of it. I mean, you can make a point about the choices leading to a largely similar outcome regardless of what you pick, but that does not change that a majority of Telltale games actually offer some sort of a victory at the end and save for some exceptions have actually made me feel as if I won. In your examples, you have focussed on Telltale's darkest games to date, but that is by far not all the company has to offer.
Take Tales from the Borderlands and Minecraft for example. They are mostly light-hearted in their tone and offer a clear victory. You win with relatively few casualties and the story ends rather positive. Batman and The Wolf Among Us are darker, but still end with the bad guys defeated and Bigby/Batman as the hero of Fabletown/Gotham and I don't know about you, but all of these games made me feel like I actually won against these villains, even if not all questions have been answered. While nothing can be said yet about the ending of Guardians of the Galaxy, I see it as likely that it will also end with a victory, as a dark ending might not exactly fit with the humorous tone of the game and setting. Even in TWD, there is Michonne, which can potentially end on a surprisingly positive note, depending on one particular choice, even if it is certainly not a classical victory. It's still one of the best you can expect from a setting as dark as The Walking Dead.
Now, the only games where I really haven't felt as if I won are the ones that clearly have a sequel in mind, The Walking Dead (save for Michonne) and Game of Thrones. Both are among Telltale's darkest games and stay true to the source material with their tone. Having them end on a mostly positive note as Telltale's other games did would not really fit, especially as neither of them tells the full story and leaves clear room for sequels. While none of them ends with a clear defeat, their endings certainly are more bitter than sweet. Even then, there are some partial victories. House Forrester might lose, but the house itself survives to fight on. Most of the group members die, but Clem continues to live. Those are small victories and really the best you can expect from the respective settings. And given that ANF hasn't ended yet and Thrones Season 2 is yet to come (hopefully), there might still be some larger, clearer victories at the end of the series itself, when the full story has been told.
But I am a winner, fuddman1. I AM A WINNER!
No, S2 is still a good game. You've lost if you paid for ANF and Guardians.
Can't agree. S2 was a disaster imo.
Give the other games some time. They aren't finished yet.
We're 4/5th (technically we SHOULD be on the THIRD episode but the episodes are so damn short and that lie pre-release "ep1 was split because it was too big" doesn't help) through the season. ANF is pretty much finished. Episode 5 will most likely be some shitty 75 minute episode trying to make us emotional, but I don't care about the characters so I won't feel emotional at all. S2 at least made me care about the characters a little and it had LONGER episodes. S2 was good until Ep3, ANF wasn't good at all so far. I have no hope for ANF (and Guardians) but we'll see what happens to Guardians.
YET. Season 2 is (hopefully) coming out soon. And Ironrath may be gone, but there are still 3 or 4 Forresters still alive. By those standards, the war isn't over. They haven't won, but they haven't exactly LOST yet either.
Yeah, but Clementine is still alive, which was exactly Lee's main goal throughout the entire game. He might have lost his life, but he DEFINITELY didn't fail.
according to some of people from telltale staff the amount of people that survive A New frontier will be up to the player so choices matter i guess...
I could see putting an asterisk beside "game"... otherwise, it only really makes sense because of the name change from "Telltale Games" to "Telltale Inc.".
And what necessarily says you've LOST?
I wouldn't completely rule it out, they said that 400 days would have an huge effect on Ep3 S2 and we all saw how much of an lie that was
It would be a good idea if they did. It would appease a lot of fans of choice and consequence. Then, they can pull a Mass Effect 2&3/Alien 3 and just wipe the slate clean at the beginning of the next game.