Enough W/ the Monthly Releases.
DrHabitualRealist
Banned
I'm sure I'm not the only person frustrated with the wait time between episodes, but it's not just the wait time that has me starting this thread.
As some people have already stated on this forum, Episode 2's relationship choices have already began to surface around the net. If Telltale would follow the example set by RE Revelations 2 and finish enough of their games to release them on a bi-weekly schedule, the spoilers would become a waste of time & we wouldn't have to try to dodge them as much. They'd also have more development time to provide us with longer titles that could rival Detroit: Become Human or Alan Wake.
If I'm not mistaken, it's possible to remove enough of the data so the games can continue to run the released episode & optional demo without leaving leftovers to be mined. Also, keep in mind that Telltale continues to leave in the code for their retired Rewind feature (even in TFS). Still, Pete would be wise to strongly consider this going forward.
Comments
Honestly I’m itching for more rn and really want bi-weekly episodes too
I'd rather telltale take their time to make the episodes rather then pumping them out bi-weekly due to spoiler risk. If the game is terrible from being rushed and abruptly produced biweekly that far outweights potential spoilers or just highly impatient fans.
as long as that time isn't spent rewriting everything like with ANF.
What's the difference between having the first episode released at 14th August with the last one at December 18th and releasing them all at once in December 18th? Just because they are going to be released all at once doesn't necessarily mean that they will be released earlier, not everyone wants to play the game in one run, also it's nice to have the wait between episodes discussing theories or the episodes themselves, it's not really that hard to avoid spoilers and if you want to play it in one run then just wait till the last episode releases.
Even if it isn't that doesn't mean it will be a good product. Rushing a game just for impatient fan sake is a terrible idea from the start.
I think what OP means is that if Telltale could do a longer initial development time to make each episode near-complete before release, we could get a shorter length of time to wait for each episode.
Personally, I kind of agree - in regards to casual players.
With some general lack of direction of where seasons go, (and a missing "next time on" for the curious,) the one-month wait can be grueling and detrimental to any casual Telltale fans who don't keep up with every new bit of info of the game like we do. Quicker releases can help alleviate that. Bi-weekly would be best.
I think, for myself, I'd be fine with 1 month waits. I enjoy talking with you all and theorizing, throwing ideas around... A month seems like a good amount of time to do so without getting bored.
Telltale seems to be upping their Dev game, since we've got a tentative release schedule this time and they're all mostly monthly.
It also helps that since Batman: Enemy Within they seem to actually be taking in player feedback which I don't think they've really done since Tales from the Borderlands.
The thing is, if they took their time to complete about 50%-65% of the season prior to beginning to drop the episodes or even provide the PAX East Reveal, they would have all the time they need.
There was nothing rushed about RE Revealations 2, Detroit: Become Human, Alan Wake, Until Dawn, or LiS --and again, all those studios have far fewer employees than Telltale ever did & this is prior to the layoffs.
I agree I wish they released ep 2 much sooner since it's basically fully developed and already rated, 5 weeks of polishing is way to much
I think you're missing the point, bro.
If they take the time to truly build their games out, they could be much longer, feature far more dialogue and branching options, & additional mini-games/puzzles. It's the current way they do things which is why we have titles that are as short and lackluster as they currently are. Don't pretend as if EP1 of TFS wasn't lacking in character development, puzzles & exploration.
Hell, they could even introduce more customization (like Clem's outfit) if they took more time to develop their games. That is what this thread is about, NOT ENOUGH TIME for thorough game development. Since DeckNine for LiS: Before the Storm took their time, they were able to create DLC packages to customize the outfit of their protagonist. I can't say that Telltale has this same luxury, but it goes to show what they could achieve if they took MORE time than they currently do.
I'd gladly pay $60 a title and then some for extra DLC if Telltale took the time to create it.
& rushing is oddly what we still have. Otherwise, we wouldn't have episodes being fleshed out on a monthly basis like they're some drawn-out last minute message reply.
They are not only polishing but they are also developing episode 3.
Yes, longer development time is the exact root of my argument [finish enough of their games to release them on a bi-weekly schedule]. I enjoy the theorizing, but you can't say we couldn't still continue to do that in spite of bi-weekly releases. I don't foresee us getting that lucky anytime soon, though...but who knows? I've seen some on here claim that Stranger Things is already done since it was suppose to be released alongside S2 and has now been pushed to release alongside S3 instead.
I think we have Pete to thank for that, though! Not saying the rest of the staff doesn't listen to us, I just don't think they had the same kind of open-door policy under Bruner.
I'm sorry if this is a stupid question I don't really have a good understanding of how these developments work, but if what you said is the case, why is it then that they'll release it only in 5 weeks and 2 days and not sooner?
edit: I mean they are developing episode 3, but once ep2 gets fully "polished", which it should much sooner than 5 weeks, why not release it sooner?
The development of the episodes is like this (I think)
When episode 1 is being released episode 2 is almost done and then they are polishing it while working on episode 3 and also mildly on episode 4 and while episode 2 is being released episode 3 is almost done and then they are polishing it while they are working on episode 4. If they would release episode 2 now we would have to wait a longer time and the episode would have more glitches and bugs.
I used to be frustrated but spending time around here made me realise that it gives us time to delve deeper into the characters, making us grow more attached to them without rushing through it all in one go and feeling less impacted by what’s going on.
Tbh I think having episodes release monthly is better than lets say weekly.
Do you realize that the wait time between episodes is now shorter than it has ever been before? AND you actually know the release of all episodes. You do not know what waiting is. This isn't waiting, this is just a break from playing. Don't want spoilers? Don't visit sites that post spoilers.
Its quite good so far for S4 and if the monthly to Bi-Monthly releases keep this quality, I am more in favor of that than rushing even further just to try and squeeze a biweekly schedule in.
I guess people don't know the dark times we had to go through in the past waiting for episode 2 from TWAU and episodes from other Telltale games. A month waiting is nothing compared to those waits
That wait for the last episode of Game of Thrones tho.
I kinda like it, get to have interesting discussions with you bastards for half a year, this forum would be dead in a week if they released the whole thing at the same time.
I don't min the wait, sure I'm curious af what will happen next but as it has been said, first of all it gives time to the developers to polish their product and believe me you wouldn't want something rushed.
It allows you to think about the characters, grow an attachment to them and think about your choices as well. Was you right to do something or no it? How will it impact the rest of the game? Those things wouldn't happen if you played 4 episodes straight.
The wait times for episodes 2 and 3 of Tales from the Borderlands (7 months total) still haunt me to this day.
I was thinking if they can't release the episode sooner than Sept 25th maybe release a trailer for ep 2, like in a week maybe? idk
They always release trailers one week before the release of the episode.
They just need to ditch the episodic format completely. It’s honestly just not meant for video games, especially when the wait between episodes are a month.Going forward I would rather have them wait and release the whole game at once when their finished.
Wow, seriously? Okay, here we go again (cause obviously there was no threads like that in the past). Episode release per month is NOTHING compared to what we had to endure before. I think that with Season 2 of TWD one time we had to wait around 2-3 months for another episode. This time, right now? It's break. It's literally like going through a weekand compared to a previous times that felt like going on a long vacations between work.
Besides I don't agree with an argument "Telltale should ditch episodic formula completely". You know WHY even Telltale is one of the few companies that does that? Because they actually listen to players feedback. They've admitted in the past that one of the reason's for episodic release of their games is that the game IS not finished completely. By that they've meant that their have their story finished, they know how they want to start and finished but it's not a set straight line. Even during Season 1 they've stated that they had a story, they knew what they wanted to do and how to end it but they've adjusted the story in the meantime based on the players choices (those little stats at the end of every story).