The Expanse: A Telltale Series - Full Season Discussion Thread
dojo32161
Moderator
Release Dates
- Episode 1 - July 27th
- Episode 2 - August 10th
- Episode 3 - August 24th
- Episode 4 - September 7th
- Episode 5 - September 21st
- Bonus Episode - November 3rd
All episode will release 24 hours prior for those who preorder
Visit the Whatever's on Your Mind Megathread for off topic chat!
Message from the Mods
Due to the release schedule being every two weeks, we've decided that we won't need individual episode waiting and discussion threads and have instead settled on a full series thread for discussing any news and the episodes themselves. If you so wish, you may create threads for a specific episodes to discuss (and as always for any topic relating to The Expanse TV series, books or games).
Please spoiler tag anything from a newly released for three days after the pre-order release date, or two days after the general release date.
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Oh
I kinda like having each episode's post-launch recovery and hype separated between threads, if only to keep them organized and locked off from each other.
But I guess I understand this, especially with how small these forums have become lately.
I've read 2 preview articles so far on Telltale's Expanse and it sounds like it'll at least be very captivating.
Space.com says that
Episode 1 provides a good number of impactful choices that hopefully have deep ramifications for future episodes, and leans into a gory mature tone that certain sci-fi fans might love.
They criticize the approachability of the series, in that you don't learn too much about the characters introduced, there isn't an easy introduction to start it off, and any side-info can be found by exploring the world.
They however praise that it could be a great hit to fans of the series, and while Ep1 is short at around 1hr, it leaves them wanting more.
Gamespot also had an article & interview in which they gush about how accurate they nail the vibe of the series and the inter-cultural conflicts between the different factions of its world.
Their first playthrough clocked in at around 1h20m.
They praise the new open-ended exploration and the way Mag Boots were implemented,, letting you walk on walls and ceilings of a broken ship.
The flying, is noted as annoyingly slow at times, and is unlikely to get an upgrade later in the season.
They greatly enjoyed Cara Gee's performance and the characterisation of all the other original characters created for the game.
Who knows, maybe we'll have thousands upon thousands of new people swarming our forums for the Expanse? Wouldn't that just be dandy?
That'd be nice... but I feel like we need a general forum overhaul.
No individual episode waiting threads?
But yeah, understandable. Unless a new flood of people suddenly show up, each thread would have like 10 comments anyway.
And I agree with dojo about the forum update, I'm surprised they still haven't gotten around to it. Having 3/4 of the sections to just be locked is not a good look, not to mention the general instability of the forums. (I swear, I have to always refresh several times before it recognizes I'm logged in.)
It feels nice to be excited about another Telltale game
God I hope it gets a revamp. The forum runs like molasses going uphill sometimes.
Whatever happened to that dude who talked about working on the forum when Telltale got revived lol.
Ah yes, the new forum layout has been "coming soon" for almost 4 years now. That's just a classic Telltale experience.
Pretty cool to see that The Expanse has pretty in-depth accessibility settings!
Good to see New Telltale doing more accessibility stuff. Old Telltale was... terrible in that department, even its normal subtitles could be pretty bad.
I'm going to assume it was because the Telltale Tool was such a relic that it wouldn't be able to do any of that well.
I really hope rewind makes a return. I remember old Telltale saying that they decided to do away with it because not enough people were using it, which was such an ass reason.
But if they bring it back I really hope that there's more checkpoints too.
I remember rewind being a pain in the ass to implement as well. That telltale tool lasted over a decade. Its impressive how they kept that bandaged up engine working for that long. Knowing that old ass Bone is under the same engine as TFS.
Held together by hopes, dreams, and some string.
New video on the making of:
Telltale released a cosplay guide of the main characters, which also includes little tidbits about each character written from the POV of the captain.
The most surprising thing for me to find out was that someone who I thought to be one character turned out to be twin brothers instead lol.
Another behind the scenes video:
Telltale made an official megathread on the Telltale subreddit with some info about the game, the characters, system requirements, etc.
The most interesting bit is that they'll be having a big announcement at SDDC 2023 regarding the game. Wonder what it could be.
Probably more info about the bonus episode DLC.
I think they deleted the post lol. I wonder if it's because they didn't expect most of the comments to just be about epic exclusivity. Either way, not a good look tbh.
EDIT: Nvm, seems like the Reddit anti-spam bots caught it for some reason, lol. Probably too many links in the post.
Huh, a trailer for the bonus episode, didn't think we'd get a trailer for it this soon.
That's pretty neat! The trailer makes it seem like a massive reveal to those who know, so I hope this bonus episode side-story is good.
I don't know the character at all since I haven't seen the show, but I know the actress! Shoreh Aghdashloo, she's got a super recognizable voice.
Something neat I just found, the main video on her IMDB page is a demo reel, and it starts with a clip from Expanse, where she talks to Cara Gee's Drummer (and is also quickly referred to as "Archangel")
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0013037/
I don't find it that strange, they want people to buy the preorders after all.
There were speculations that we'd play as Avasarala in the bonus episode, so it's nice to have it confirmed. What a great choice of the main character.
If anyone wants a little briefing on Camina Drummer and the world of the Expanse before the game comes out, I found this useful little video.
There's not too much to know about the character since the game takes place during her mysterious past, but there's some stuff in there that's a little interesting.
Also there was apparently a big preview event a few months ago where they flew people in to LA to play the first episode..
Also this thing starts in like 4 days that's CRAZY
Telltale released the full SDCC panel if anyone's interested!
An official release schedule for The Expanse! Wild to see a Telltale game with a proper schedule.
TWD The final Season actually had a set release schedule but we all know how that turned out...
Not a lot of reviews are out right now, but looks like reviewers were able to play the first 3 episodes. Interesting decision to go for the Netflix approach.
A redband trailer, eh?
Swear words! Get your swear words here, people! Hot 'n ready!
I mean, we know the first episode features an environment that has a bunch of severed heads floating around, so makes sense they're trying to promote how mature it might be...
But why did it take this long to get this trailer cut? 🤔
I'm a big dumb third world man who doesn't understand US time zones so does someone know in how many hours when early access for pre-orders are expected to release lol
According to my Playstation, three hours and thirty-four minutes.
The Expanse EP 1 is now available to play for people who preordered on PS/PC. Enjoy everyone!
I really wonder how the store would hold up giving pre-order only people access to the episodes while post-launch buyers need to wait a full day... Like, the episodes will go up a day early on the store, but somehow pre-orders can download it while the late-buyers just... can't?
Idk, I've never seen the PS Store do this before, unless it was specifically for a Special Edition version of a game (buy this fancy expensive version for 3 days early access!)
Having it all be with a standard pre-order is... interesting.
Also OOPS I haven't pre-ordered it yet, I'll do so in the morning once I'm awake and rested!!
Played the first ep.
Thought it was solid, bit on the shorter end, but long enough. I'm intrigued to see where it goes, and hope I'll be able to keep everyone alive
Zero G was really cool, theres kind of an "openworld" section where you can fly around and go to some optional areas and do really minor sidequests, made me feel old telltale energy (twd s1 where lee can go around and find snacks to people for example).
Some characters definitely need more screentime and development, and dialogue could at times be really weirdly cut where Drummer stayed silent for a few seconds before answering someone, felt unnatural.
But overall, Im ready for ep2 in a couple weeks. Im definitely not at a "CANT WAIT" stage. But I am looking forward to ep2.
So I just finished episode 1 and gonna dump my thoughts.
I'll go with my issues first, big one is that it was very short. Just a bit over an hour long which was pretty disappointing. I had read one review mention that all the episodes are short, so I am hoping at the very least if its short, the choices made will have more of an impact in the future. But that is my only really disappointment, the rest are just small things. I felt that the voice acting was a bit strange at times? Sometimes when inspecting something Drummer "SPEAKS a bit LIKE this FOR SOME REASON and it is WEIRD." This also really doesn't feel like Telltale's epic return as this is 100% a Deck Nine game, so sometimes you can go a few minutes before being able to speak. The main menu is also very sadly probably even less inspired than the Batman era of Telltale menus. And lastly, the objective noise is actually the most annoying sound I have ever heard in my life and it plays every time it closes. Not only is the sound not needed at all, they really chose the most ear piecing sound they could find.
So positives, exploration is super fun in this game. Although you probably aren't really doing that much, moving around in zero gravity was super cool and the graphics are also great. I know nothing about Expanse but I think if you're a fan of the show you'd probably absolutely love this game. The story and characters are interesting enough and there is enough to keep me engaged and wanting to know what happens next. But the length of the episode is really a bit of a issue. Episode 1's ending feels like the midway point of an episode, not the ending. Reminds me of True Colors how it was broken into episodes, but they ended really whenever they wanted, only difference is you didn't need to wait, and I sort of feel this game was not exactly designed with waiting in mind.
Finished Episode 1 and...I liked it. I do agree with everyone that the episode felt very short. Not a lot happens at all till the end, but the general vibes and set up do have me intrigued. The zero gravity is very cool. Exploration is VERY open but maybe a bit too open? The game does a decent enough job providing cues on where to explore but it doesn't stop you from just flying off into the back of the ship...where there is nothing to see...and it takes a bit to circle back to the front pfft but that's more a me issue haha.
I guess my one consistent thought throughout is that yeah, this is a Deck Nine game in disguise. The pacing is very slow, the dialog trees are limited and few and far between, and the action scenes are well...lacking action. I hope the future episodes can amp it up a bit cause if you cut all the exploration the episode would probably be about 35 mins with 2 lame QTE fights, like 10 dialog trees, and 2 crucial decisions. I'm not saying that they have to perfectly mirror telltale's design but A little more in the cinematography and constant interactions with the story do amplify what makes a telltale game for me.
With that all said as a deck nine game its pretty solid. The writing is very good and while the strange voice acting took me a bit to get used to I think it fits the strange sci-fi tones of the world. Call me intrigued. Not the best telltale premiere I have played, and never hit me at an emotional core that a first episode usually is supposed to do but hey Telltale is back and the return so far doesn't make me regret its resurrection. Looking forward to how the season turns out.
I liked it! Good first episode, definitely short (hour and a half) but if shorter episodes mean that choices will actually matter like they've been hyping it up to be then I have no issue with that. Loved the zero G exploration and how big the map was, though I do have to say I did feel nauseous. I liked finding the hidden salvage and what not, though I wasn't able to find the crystal thing. I'm enjoying the characters, story, and bits of lore so far, and it's making me interested in the show. I also appreciate the new beacon system that shows you where you're supposed to go so you don't accidentally go into it while exploring. I definitely do wish there were more conversations and whatnot, and QTE's. The game looks great, the animation is solid aside from the two action scenes, the lip syncing is on point and it's by far the smoothest running Telltale game so far.
Solid premiere episode and I'm looking forward to the next in just two weeks!
Also seriously though, where was that damn crystal.
I do hope that if Telltale continues to partner with other studios they begin to enforce the "Telltale brand" because it is a bit weird that this is a "Telltale series" when it is very obviously more Deck Nine than Telltale. The DNA simply isnt the same. I am assuming Wolf 2 will probably feel way more in line to previous Telltale games due to being developed by former Telltale.
And I agree with the QTE and choreography. Both times Cox is taken down, the punches and fighting really has 0 weight and it looked a bit goofy watching someone take such a light punch.
I looked it up and I think that's just how the Belter Creole accent sounds from the show. It's definitely strange and will take some getting used to lol.
When you could fly out into space the first time, you should just go straight up to the very top of the ship and there you would see a blinking red light. In that lil corridor was the crystal.