What did Season 1 do wrong?
Season 1 of The Walking Dead was a revolutionary game. It showed that games can have a large focus on narratives that can bring out strong emotions that can rival cinema and it did so while becoming a huge hit phenomenon in the gaming industry. That said, it wasn't without It's flaws. After all the stuff that we snark on and criticize in A New Frontier I thought it'd be interesting to go back and discuss some of the missteps that occurred in Season 1.
Yes there is this thread but that one was mostly just highlighting logical inconsistencies. I want to know what the hardcore fans believe to be glaring flaws of any kind that appeared in Season 1.
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they got rid of lee's badass leather jacket after one episode
I'm probably in the Minority here, but I actually LIKED Season 2's pacing a bit BETTER than I liked Season 1's pacing. I mean...don't get me wrong. I liked Season 1 a lot, but I feel like certain parts of it just seemed to DRAG a little too much. If you don't think so, that's YOUR opinion. I'm just stating how I personally feel about it.
I don't disagree with people who say that ANF's pacing was TOO FAST, but I feel like Season 1 has the OPPOSITE Problem. I actually feel as if Season 2 has the BEST pacing of all 3 Seasons of TWDG So Far. I know that Not Everyone will agree with me on this. I'm just stating my own opinion here.
Some of the facial animations in season 1 in particular were pretty rough. That said, especially back then Telltale didn't really have a very high-end animation engine compared to most other companies. I didn't buy the collection because I already own all of the games and it isn't really a collection since it doesn't include the final season but one thing that bothers me about it is the way the textures and lighting are slightly updated but the animations are the same. This made all of the awkward animations really stand out.
I didn't mind the puzzle sections in season 1 but I did find it funny that the right materials to solve the puzzle always happened to be conveniently placed in the areas where you would need them. Lee's magical jeans that could hold vast amounts of supplies in them regardless of size was pretty great too.
Choices in season 1 are the same as all Telltale games. They don't have much of an effect on how the main events take place. Though they were better at maintaining the illusion back then.
As far as the writing, story, and character developement the game was nearly perfect.
I felt like Kenny gets the worst end of the stick with this. Probably because he's always shouting.
I agree. For me, season 2 really hit a sweet spot as far as pacing goes. Honestly, I like season 2 even more than season 1. Season 1 was absolutely amazing and it puts both the comics and show to shame but I personally liked season 2 a tiny bit more. The story of season 1 is great but it wasn't that far off from the basic story of the comics. That is a man taking care of his child and preparing her for the apocalypse. The initial premise of the comics can also be summed up to that. I loved season 2 because it was a great contrast to the story seen in the comics. Instead of playing as the parent you are a child who has lost both her real parents as well as her surrogate parents and is forced to really step up and act more like an adult than a child. Season 2 really put all of the teachings Lee had taught Clem in the previous season to the test. Another thing I liked about season 2 was the fact that the new characters had the common sense to stay away from cities and were instead in the country side. I also feel like season 2 had the perfect balance of human and walker conflict. Walkers are still relevant to the story and are a threat but more than anything humans are the true dangers of the world.
I know not a lot of people are going to agree with me on this, but I liked season 2 more than season 1. Don't get me wrong, season 1 was great. But the only reason why I like season 2 better is because I wasn't spoiled on anything. Before I got into the walking dead series I heard of a lot of spoilers in season 1 and I originally wasn't planning on getting the game. However, my mom got it for me for Christmas in 2012 and I started playing it and bought the second season and enjoyed it more than the first. That's my opinion though.
Coddling it's players just a glob too much.
Hmmmmm
They cut out the Lee's nightmare sequence with Doug or Carly.
Speaking of Doug and Carly..Somehow that save Doug or Carly decision was lopsided for Carly's rescue over Doug in spite of Doug having more walkers tugging at him.. because I think something was wrong with how much danger both characters were perceived to be in or they just saved Carly more because she was attractive looking enough to be Lee's love interest.
I don't understand the big difference in deciding to leave Clementine's house before or after dark. Only thing is someone is replaced with another character because they got turned into a walker which ultimately had no impact on the story.
The training Clem with a gun sequence was kind of lengthy and a bit complicated in aiming for the glass bottle three times in a row. Should of been a cursor that is only mildly challenging to aim directly on the bottle. Also there was unlimited ammo for this scene.
Don't get why the Stranger still blames you for stealing when you decide to not steal the supplies as was the case with me during my first blind play through of season one I was appalled that he still was holding me accountable and wanted to punish Lee no matter what.
The developers actually did comment on and look into that: the diagnostic reason is the fact that they simply did far more to draw Carley into the player's attention, with a action-y introduction, constant interaction with the other characters, and making herself personally known as someone in the know regarding Lee's dramatic past.
Poor Doug, on the otherhand, is "introduced" in what is essentially a reaction shot, is constantly kept in a corner with minimal attention drawn to him, and only really interacts non-determinately with Lee to move into the iconic climax in which he/Carley is determinately killed. Not to mention that he actually did have another more involved scene with Lee essentially setting up the conditions of what he has that ended up being cut.
He actually does address this: in that scenario, he was specifically after Kenny and Katjaa for spearheading that move in the first place, with Lee as a determinate accomplice/enabler, but his vendetta with Lee is actually borne of learning about the danger Clementine was constantly in.
While I love the ending with the Stranger, there are some problems with that confrontation. He blames Lee for the choices he makes no matter what. If you save Carley, he scolds Lee for letting someone die to save a pretty girl. But if you save Doug, he scolds Lee for letting someone die to protect his secret. It would have been better if there were certain choices that the Stranger would make and blames Lee when he makes the opposite choices.
This is similar to ANF when Gabe calls Javi a coward for not shooting Conrad, but later scolds Javi for shooting Conrad, because he doesn't value life or whatever. But the latter is complained about way more than the former.
One of The Stranger's narrative purposes is to act as a final judge who looks over Lee's choices and to help drive home that no matter what, Lee was forced to do less than reputable things in the name of survival and failed to successfully protect the people who he was surviving with.
That does sound like it would've been an interesting detail for his character.
That's because it was implemented and executed in a very forced way that doesn't really make too much sense even if you understand Gabe's character. Also, it was dropped two scenes later.
A New Day
1. Timeline when the zombie apocalypse starts is a bit confusing (how long was lee unconscious?)
2. No moment of exploring the neighborhood with Clem, you immediately conveniently run into Shawn
3. Chet is totally pointless
4. The entire introduction to the pharmacy group is awkward as fuck, with weird dialogue choices and larry only finding out Duck isn't bitten if you stay silent, otherwise that plot point gets dropped
5. Doug getting his role cut down, as mentioned above
Starved for Help
6. Cutting out how Ben witnessed his classmates get raped when that would have made him much more sympathetic
7. Cutting the Carley/Doug dream scene
8. Cutting short the dinner scene where you would have been able to help Clem cut her food
9. Cutting the option to physically fight Kenny in the meat locker (makes Lee look like an idiot for starting CPR when Kenny is clearly about to snap and do something). This one really baffles me, I can't see any reason for cutting it out.
10.Having Andy act like everything is Lee's fault when they clearly meant to kill them all the time. Yeah, he's crazy, but he sounds pretty sincere when he blames Lee.
11. Cutting out Danny being a potential pedophile
Long Road Ahead
12. Ditching Lee's jacket for literally no reason. Almost everyone else is wearing warmer clothes.
13. Lilly always snaps when Carley compares her to Lee, which makes no sense if she has a positive relationship with Lee. I know she just hates Carley, but this could have been written tighter.
14. Duck's bite is confusing. Why does it happen almost the exact same way he's nearly bitten in episode 1? Were they trying to make the point that Duck should have been armed? Because Duck is kind of an idiot. It's not thematically clear.
15. Duck becomes a living prop after he's bit. Hardly seems to notice he's dying, which takes some of the edge off the potential emotion.
16. Cutting out the part of the train scene where Clem and Lee talk about fear making people angry. (I think this was recycled into the season 2 flashback, maybe?)
17. Cutting out the part where Omid and Christa are shown fighting zombies (presumably at the train station?) Showing their worth as survivors up-front. After all, Omid is sidelined for most of episode 4!
Around Every Corner
18. "not hungry enough to eat dog food" So how is their food situation exactly? It would be nice to know, since y'know, that was the whole friggin plot of Starved for Help.
19. Lee clipping through Kenny when he carries Fivel is distracting in an emotional scene
20. Molly is kinda silly. There's no elaboration on her parkour or her pick-axe. (might have been nice if her weapon was named after her sister) And really, why did she leave? At this point that's more cliche than staying.
21. Sewer scene is too short, plus apparently they planned to have scenes with Lee and the others travelling through them. Also Chuck's off-screen death is terrible. Couldn't they at least have given him some screen-time with Lee there before he dies? What a waste of a character. (still not as embarrassing as Nick's death though)
22. Vernon's motivations are confusing. Or is he just a good liar? Yet he hates Lee for lying to him... wut
23. How exactly did the Stranger kidnap Clem? Did he lure her out and take her suddenly, making her drop her hat? What about the walkie talkie that's conveniently next to a hiding zombie? You might think that was a trap, but the stranger acts surprised if you tell him you're bitten in episode 5 so no, it must just be coincidence. Why not have it be a trap? It would up the Stranger's villain points.
24. Kenny being really selfish and out of character when he hears Clem is kidnapped. Which brings me to my next point
25. They don't know the stranger is. For all they know, he could be a sexual predator as Christa implies once. With this in mind, they act WAY TOO CALM about the whole thing. Lee takes the whole thing way too well in stride even before he can get the message that the stranger thinks he's "rescuing" clem. If you were in the morgue and had no idea where Clem was and she could be getting raped or god knows what at that very moment, I think you'd have a bit of mental breakdown. Lee is just too goddamn calm.
26. Similar to the above, Lee takes being bitten too well. Combine being bitten with Clem being kidnapped and how the hell is Lee keeping it together so well? It's kinda silly. What really annoys me is the camera doesn't even show his face when he sees the bite. What the hell where they thinking?
No Time left
27. Kenny and Lee's optional fight (kenny, go fuck yourself)is ignored pretty much completely
28. They cut down on the fight scene in the house. Not sure why, since it's the last episode and you want to go out with a bang. Not to mention it's the shortest episode anyway.
29. Kenny's deaths are pretty silly. One makes it look like he's killing himself literally minutes after he says suicide is wrong, the other only happens because he gave Lee a friendly slap on the back. lolwut to both
30. Even if you play the game as a perfect saint, the Stranger will still try to kill you. Makes no sense.
31. Cutting off Lee's arm has little to effect. He still passes out and dies in the jewelry store. Lame. Would have been great if they had one option lead to Lee and Clem making it through the horde and have Lee finally die in that open field area.
32. The jewelry store is also a really lame place for our main hero to die.
33. Lee again seems way too calm, considering he's about to die and he's leaving Clem alone. I don't know if it was Dave Fennoy's fault, or the voice director but it doesn't seem as raw and emotional as it should. I wanted to see Lee shed some tears, damn it! (although that part would be the fault of the animators)
34. Cutting short the ending abruptly. Uh, what? What was the point of putting the scene of Clem in the field after the credits? And what was the point of making it a cliffhanger? This ending doesn't hold up in retrospect since we immediately see it's christa and omid in season 2. How exciting. So you play the game for like 10-15 hours, and you get that shitty abrupt ending? What were they thinking?!
wew, just be glad I didn't do one of these for season 2 and 3. Damn. Season 1 is still damn good, but it's definitely not perfect.
Did you mean to reply to me or did you just ended hitting the reply button in haste too?
I have no idea how I did that
It's almost like you and I are bound together by fate...
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How do you find out bens classmates got raped?
Unused voice clips from Ruby Butterfield's portrayal.
Oh ok
Yes you’re spot on! Choices felt like they mattered in Season 1 even when most decisions always eventually ended up going the same way but as you said they were WAY better at maintaining the illusion back then
Well that’s totally understandable that S2 was better for you. Shame you got spoiled for the first game, that sucks!
Lol because Season 3’s reputation was shit and i guess S1’s flaws are forgiven by most
Well, the wiki says it was in unused audio for starved for help.
I don't think I ever actually heard them.
Oh ok thanks
...I'm just going to pretend you never posted that.
It was originally gonna be a comment about it being a special kind of HFIL, but then I remembered you defend Jane, plus this one joke/meme I made a long while back, and voip!
End.
It bothers that we never got to know how Clementine felt about Lee in Season 1. Yes, it is shown in Season 2 how much she misses him. But I wanted to know her personal feelings about Lee. We all know that Lee loved her and that he would go to great lenghts to protect her, even describing her as the "only good thing left in this world". But what about Clementine? Was she attached to him back in Season 1?
To sum up, Clementine's feelings and thoughts about Lee should have been explored in Season 1.
Chuck's character. His conclusion is like the most retarded writing anyone could agree with. How come you make him one of the reasons Clementine survived only to have him die off-screen and not have someone at least mention him after his death? Fuck that decision, fuck that choice in particular.
You know, in a way I think off screen deaths can sometimes be sadder than on screen deaths. You don't know they went out. They might of died a hero, coward, etc. While some offscreen deaths can and often are lazy writing I wouldn't say all are. The player doesn't neccesarily have to see absolutely everything that is going on in order for it to be a good story.
I’d agree with that
Especially given the implied pathos involved in that particular case.
Regardless no one mentions chuck afterward, not even Clem who liked him. And Lee's "I'm so sorry Chuck" is freaking optional, only if you walk back to his corpse.
It's not quite Nick-levels of lazy death, but it was a sign of bad things to come, you follow me?
You could have cut Chuck out, and nothing would change. We could have had Lee come to the realization of what he needed to do with Clem on his own OR have Christa and Omid give him the advice. Eh?
well, several characters like Carley and Molly tell you that she thinks very highly of you.
Just because I defend Jane doesn't mean I watch Steven Universe. God!
Does this change if you were a meaner to her?
Yeah, I know.
People love Season 1's interactivity, don't they?
Not shittin you, I was just thinking about this while driving from the house one day last week or two.
I want to you look at the sentence you just typed.
Yeah...YOU typed that.
Well, I couldn't find a proper emote to express it
Carley only says this if Lee expresses doubt after telling clementine he was a killer before the zombies.
Molly says it when she's leaving. So both are optional, but not based on being a dick to either of them.
I think the words are "she adores you" and "she thinks the world of you"