Episode 2 is like almost there! I liked it. Maybe even a little more than episode 1 but man. Even tho the episode is longer it still felt really slow. Exploration is way too open for my liking and I actively dislike not being able to properly keep track of my items and where my cut off point is before losing out on an important side objective. The markers don't help too much. Maybe if the markers light went out if you gathered all the salvaged stuff in that ship? I also don't like feeling guilt tripped and missing out on crucial story content, especially when I can't find them! Episode 2 does some really cool stuff tho.
The drone stealth section was refreshing and pretty intense compared to the half- baked QTEs. Getting to just talk with the crew was pretty cool and I liked how the stuff you scavenge has an impact (Just wish it was easier to keep track of) Did anyone else feel the Maya romance feels a bit too early and sudden? I really like Maya but going from a cute scene to sudden "lets fuck" took me back a bit. The ending cliffhanger is bad. Its really bad and I actually laughed how nothing it was. I wish this was not episodic. At least make an attempt to shock and awe!
There actually is a promo teaser in the Behind the Belt video. It's only like 15 seconds long, so its much more similar to a tv promo than a full on trailer. Really weird that theyd hide it in a video a majority of people wont watch though. They really oughta market.
The team not doing any episode trailers or recap in game really just further proves to me that this game was to be released entirely and not… more made to wait for episodes to come out between a few weeks,i'm part of the people who asked for this back then so i'm not gonna complain though it's nice to have that again even if the game isn't massively popular.
I hope all episodes aren't just "Start episode, quick talk, explore area, return to ship" because the structure was pretty much the same as episode 1
Oh man this is one of my biggest issues right now. Its way too formulaic with its predictability. It undermines one of the biggest thing telltale excelled at which was how by the end of a telltale episode you always got somewhere by the end. Conversation trees continuously moving the plot along while here...eh. I don't love it. I hear from achievements that optional objectives take a backseat after episode 3 so I'm hoping the last 2 episodes are way more plot driven.
Yeah, before the episode started I was wondering if it would have a similar structure. Wouldn't be surprised if episode 3 is exploring the new ship then returning back and the episode ends again. I like the exploring in this game, but I don't want the bulk of the time being exploring a similar abandoned space ship and calling it an episode. Doesn't help the only character interactions you get during this big open segments are over radio waves that have very weird long pauses or when the game decides someone is also outside with you, even though it feels like you are alone.
Also because you mentioned romance in your other comment, I agree that the Maya romance came up a bit fast. I also feel like it wasn't developed enough either which I think is kind of a continuous issue with a lot of these games including Deck Nine's and Telltale's previous games. I ended up going with the Maya romance, but not really because I was that invested in it, but because I just wanted to see what will happen. I did the same with Batman and TFS. Out of all these kinds of games I feel like TFTBL and Wolf are the only 2 I felt invested in the romance options/romance plot. I think that is mostly because I feel there was better chemistry with the characters than just romance and the romantic scenes are more than just "You entered romance scene! Kiss? Kiss scene, kiss now??? You should kiss now!!!" The Rhys and Sasha scenes are more flirty and the end choice is giving her a flower instead of "You've unlocked sex!" and the Bigby and Snow moments were always this awkward "Will they won't they" stuff like the car scene and the start of episode 4. More going on than just "entering the romance scene." ᵃˡˢᵒ ʳʰʸᶦᵒⁿᵃ ᶠᵒʳ ˡᶦᶠᵉ
I hope all episodes aren't just "Start episode, quick talk, explore area, return to ship" because the structure was pretty much the same as episode 1
(Spoiler)
So far, I don't really like this season. The characters aren't fleshed out; story-wise, too little is happening. It seems that story development has suffered in favor of better gameplay.
The Gameplay certainly is better than in previous Telltale Games. However, if this improvement comes at the cost of weaker storytelling, I don't want it.
This makes the stories in ANF, GOTG, and Minecraft masterpieces. Say what you want about those games and their characters, but at least they were fleshed out. And a ton of fucking shit was happening in an episode. Now it's just: intro-scene -> big-ass exploration -> end-scene. That's not an improvement, in my humble opinion.
As a TellTale fan who played all their games from TWDG S1, this pains me to see, seeing how this was supposed to be their comeback. I'm really hoping that with TWAU S2, they will go back to their roots. I don' think the gameplay in this game is really the main selling point anyway.
Yeah, before the episode started I was wondering if it would have a similar structure. Wouldn't be surprised if episode 3 is exploring the n… moreew ship then returning back and the episode ends again. I like the exploring in this game, but I don't want the bulk of the time being exploring a similar abandoned space ship and calling it an episode. Doesn't help the only character interactions you get during this big open segments are over radio waves that have very weird long pauses or when the game decides someone is also outside with you, even though it feels like you are alone.
Also because you mentioned romance in your other comment, I agree that the Maya romance came up a bit fast. I also feel like it wasn't developed enough either which I think is kind of a continuous issue with a lot of these games including Deck Nine's and Telltale's previous games. I ended up going with the Maya romance, but not really because I was that invested in it, b… [view original content]
Yeah, I got this too. Super weird, why the heck is Episode 2 just... blank.
Finally the DLC showed up on the store, so I tried installing that but still, blank.
The PS5 quick resume activity fixed it.
But it doesn't always reliably appear so idk what else I could've done..
This is a shameful bug tbh. Really unusual.
Edit: Also yeah, this game REALLY needs better save points.
I just played up until you get to the first spacewalk in Ep2. Then quit out to see if the menu was good.
It is. Episode 2 has a chapter select and play game option.
BUT, up until it gave me full control, there wasn't a single save point. So here I am, restarting the episode from the beginning again, because of weird auto-saves...
(Also Episode 1 now says "New Game" whereas Ep2 says "Restart". This menu is weird and I don't know why it doesn't register Ep1 on my two files as completed...)
A fix for PS5 players (maybe even standard edition users): Boot up the game, go back into the normal ps5 menu and choose the "Continue activ… moreity" button on the game instead of start. This started episode 2 for me. Thanks to @Owlet in the other thread for letting us know!
After playing episode 2 I have the slight impression that the episodic format was thought of at the last moment, 15s trailer on the day of the episode release, episodes ending in an anti-climactic and emotionless way...
My only fear is that the rest of the episodes follow this formula of:
Introduction;
Exploration in a random ship with an extremely hidden secondary objective;
Return to the ship;
End of episode.
After all we are talking about Deck Nine and who played Life is Strange: Before the Storm knows how horrible/waste of time that game was! Apparently Telltale's REAL game will be The Wolf Among Us 2, maybe some new Batman game as well since we see him in the current logos.
I agree with most of what you say. The pacing really felt lacking, I think it is because of the extensive free-roaming parts, which I found a bit boring after a while and I don´t think it plays to telltale strengths to do that. Because I had to explore a lot I found myself just wanting to get to the next "more intense" part, rather than talking to all of the crew about their own stories after I had just experienced a slow exploring part.
I thought the QuickTime events this episode were better though, liked that.
It is a bit weird of an existence because I don't think this game will really sell enough or have the eyeballs to really do anything to help… more Wolf 2. If I had to guess Deck Nine probably got the rights for Expanse and was looking for a publisher, although that is a bit strange as well as I think Deck Nine could probably could have publish by themselves.
I hope Wolf 2 has more of the Telltale DNA we are looking for. Some things I hope are different than Expanse would be:
* Episodes having proper pace with full arcs and proper beginning middles and ends.
* Episode recaps and Episode trailers (Honestly I think a cool thing they could do is not reveal the episode titles until the trailer dropped, but in general I would be super bummed out if Wolf 2 doesn't get individual episode trailers) Also strange Expanse isn't for general marketing reasons.
* Better main menu and episode select. I know I hark on this a lot, but Wolf had one of the b… [view original content]
I agree with what you say. The pacing really felt lacking, I think it is because of the extensive free-roaming parts, which I found a bit boring after a while and I don´t think it plays to telltale strengths to do that. Also didn't like how you don't get a lot of choices/options if you don't spend time roaming and looking for stuff, rather than just choosing interesting dialogue options.
I thought the QuickTime events in this episode were better though, liked that.
Episode 2 is like almost there! I liked it. Maybe even a little more than episode 1 but man. Even tho the episode is longer it still felt re… moreally slow. Exploration is way too open for my liking and I actively dislike not being able to properly keep track of my items and where my cut off point is before losing out on an important side objective. The markers don't help too much. Maybe if the markers light went out if you gathered all the salvaged stuff in that ship? I also don't like feeling guilt tripped and missing out on crucial story content, especially when I can't find them! Episode 2 does some really cool stuff tho.
(Spoiler)
Hope episode 3 kicks things up a notch
So episode 2 feels largely like a retread of the first one, explore and scavenge a ship and escape pirates. Hope they change things up for the next one.
Did enjoy the conversation (however much of a conversation it is, you don't get that much input in terms of what you wanna say) with Khan if you give her the cigar, but didn't find the other objects other than random salvage so I guess I missed some longer conversations with the rest of the crew. Didn't expect to be able to go in to the Maya romance this early on, makes it seem more like a fling than anything more serious, and given that it's a prequel I guess that makes sense. Although that feels like the writers are making it easy for themselves, I recommend them to look at Better Call Saul for inspiration in this particular matter.
Also in general do the voices sound slightly muffled to anyone else? When they're talking face to face without helmets or anything it doesn't sound as clear as it should.
All things considered I'm still looking forward to the rest of the season to see where it lands.
Also not familiar with Expanse stuff but I did think it was really weird Khan got a new arm over what was a bullet graze?
So from what I gathered, they were doing that whole stop and go routine with the pirates for about a week, meaning her arm wasn’t fully treated. During that time, according to Virgil’s notes somewhere in his office, she developed sepsis, thus requiring the amputation.
Yikes, gotta be real probably one of the worst ways to establish time has passed. Scene opens like it was where we just left off in episode 1 with the only real hint is the brothers saying that this time they escaped "The time before that and 10 times before that" which is pretty vague as it doesn't do a real time frame, is an exaggeration, and can also be taken as simply dealing with pirates before. Thought the whole episode took place right after ep 1.
Yeah it was really clumsily handled. But during Drummer’s talk with the pirate captain, she said something about being strapped in her crash chair for a week because of them, so time did pass. It just could have been explained A LOT better. Not too much to ask for a time card at the beginning of the episode saying “One week later.”
Yikes, gotta be real probably one of the worst ways to establish time has passed. Scene opens like it was where we just left off in episode … more1 with the only real hint is the brothers saying that this time they escaped "The time before that and 10 times before that" which is pretty vague as it doesn't do a real time frame, is an exaggeration, and can also be taken as simply dealing with pirates before. Thought the whole episode took place right after ep 1.
Man, idk this legit has me kind of mad. This feels embarrassing from a directorial stand point. (Over exaggeration, but still. Most clear mention of time passing is like 40 minutes into the episode during the segment where you have to avoid pirates and turrets and shit.)
Yeah it was really clumsily handled. But during Drummer’s talk with the pirate captain, she said something about being strapped in her crash… more chair for a week because of them, so time did pass. It just could have been explained A LOT better. Not too much to ask for a time card at the beginning of the episode saying “One week later.”
Finally got around to playing the latest episode this week.
Agreed with plenty other people here that this one felt quite longer (for me I'd say about 45-50 mins longer) than the first episode. I'm sure the big "crew check-in" after the spacewalk sequence really helped with that, there was a lot of conversations and optional quests to complete.
I like that a lot of the salvage found can also impact optional objectives. But also it means they reeeeally like to hide some of the more "important" pieces for no reason other than keeping you from 100%. This episode, there was the medicine that's on the underside corner of a random flat piece of debris, instead of like... near the med-bay like one would hope? Episode 1 had a random salvage piece waaaay far out away from the ship on a piece of debris, one character even mentions "Yo Drummer, how'd you know that was there?? You got like a sixth sense or something!!" smh no, no idea how I would've guessed it's that far out...
The sequence of events was pretty similar to Episode 1 which was kinda eehh, but at least we got a lot of time to develop the crew after things.
That cliffhanger was also pretty abrupt again, and the "big choice" in this episode was kinda underwhelming.
Overall I'd say this is a decent series, but has a lot that it could still do better.
I'm sure I'll be starting Batman 2 again very soon, since this series isn't totally scratching that "Telltale Narrative Itch" for me. I need more plot development in an episode, please!
Also, just a few technical issues that bother me and are unlikely to be smoothed over:
the saving, as mentioned before. Weirdly inconsistent compared to how past Telltale games handle it. Should be saving every new scene, or at least after a cut-to-black. Mostly it's just "after a new objective"
the audio mixing of dialogue while in space. Characters have harsh, loud voices with the comms in space. I'd turn down the audio track but then non-space scenes would feel quieter, and they're pretty fine already.
the speed of floating in space. I found that "avoid lasers" scene to be VERY difficult, as I kept misjudging how fast I could make it to cover vs. how fast the lasers moved...
Also good to know the "X scene warnings" prompt kinda works properly?
I liked poking into Vergil's backstory, and it really enhances his final scene in Episode 1 -- dude is a total pacifist, hates combat and gets frequent PTSD from being in the war. I'm sure when he wrestled the gun out of Cox's hands and accidentally shot Khan, he was having a moment. Yikes, poor guy.
Having Khan open up about her past was neat. The facial animations she has when talking about it was impressive! She looked really distraught, and was a struggle for it to even leave her lips.
The containment vault appears in the storage room! Good to see, I wonder if it'll come in handy later.
The Maya and Drummer romance is neat, and I like how, well, blunt they went with their flirting sometimes. "Someone is gonna get slammed against a wall" ooh omg??
However it doesn't totally feel earned yet. "Fucking Finally" Maya says, but we've only really had like 2 small romantic interactions with her in the past 2 hours. I feel like we needed one or two more teases...
The time-skip should have been better communicated, yeah! I knew there was some specific length of time passed, since it's briefly mentioned at the start they've been escaping for a while, but it's not easy to pick up on that overall!
Trophies/Acheivements say that we'll be able to "escape pirates from the Mines undetected". So it's a mining colony we'll be visiting now...
I wonder if it might be that Anderson Station mentioned in a text log in someone's room? A mining colony that went on strike, then was obliterated by the military, deflecting responsibility.
Anderson Station is kind of a historical site in The Expanse, since it was, as you mentioned, kind of obliterated, when Belters protested poor treatment nearly 200 armed people and 1000 civilians were killed all caught on camera, to which a character in the main series became known as "The Butcher of Anderson Station". I think the TV series changed it so that none of them were armed. Anyway it's not a mining colony so I don't think it'll be Anderson Station, although funnily enough it is an ore refinery, so maybe they could connect this place to Anderson Station, which would be neat.
Finally got around to playing the latest episode this week.
Agreed with plenty other people here that this one felt quite longer (for me … moreI'd say about 45-50 mins longer) than the first episode. I'm sure the big "crew check-in" after the spacewalk sequence really helped with that, there was a lot of conversations and optional quests to complete.
I like that a lot of the salvage found can also impact optional objectives. But also it means they reeeeally like to hide some of the more "important" pieces for no reason other than keeping you from 100%. This episode, there was the medicine that's on the underside corner of a random flat piece of debris, instead of like... near the med-bay like one would hope? Episode 1 had a random salvage piece waaaay far out away from the ship on a piece of debris, one character even mentions "Yo Drummer, how'd you know that was there?? You got like a sixth sense or something!!" smh no, no idea how I would'v… [view original content]
This episode, there was the medicine that's on the underside corner of a random flat piece of debris, instead of like... near the med-bay like one would hope?
I can't believe it wasn't in any of the three medical facilities that you can find lmao. I was killing myself with motion sickness looking through every crevice of those rooms.
Finally got around to playing the latest episode this week.
Agreed with plenty other people here that this one felt quite longer (for me … moreI'd say about 45-50 mins longer) than the first episode. I'm sure the big "crew check-in" after the spacewalk sequence really helped with that, there was a lot of conversations and optional quests to complete.
I like that a lot of the salvage found can also impact optional objectives. But also it means they reeeeally like to hide some of the more "important" pieces for no reason other than keeping you from 100%. This episode, there was the medicine that's on the underside corner of a random flat piece of debris, instead of like... near the med-bay like one would hope? Episode 1 had a random salvage piece waaaay far out away from the ship on a piece of debris, one character even mentions "Yo Drummer, how'd you know that was there?? You got like a sixth sense or something!!" smh no, no idea how I would'v… [view original content]
That's so cute (and neat) to see! Telltale Motion Capture woo!!
I haven't checked out those Behind the scenes videos yet, I really should! At least should help give fun insight into the episodes, even if we may find them a little lacking in bits so far...
For Deluxe PS5 players who has passed midnight and still dont have it. Go to your game and manage game content, episode 3 is in there and you can download it from there. I couldnt see it in add-ons in the shop, but I found it there.
Huh, didn't expect this game to tie into plot stuff from the main series, but cool to see. Also, very cool way of dooming Maya by the narrative of this prequel, either you get too close to her so she needs to die or you don't form a tight relationship so it makes sense that she won't stick around with Drummer.
I don't know about this episode. I think it once again has a lot of the same flaws as before with the episode being very short and really being nothing but exploring a spaceship. I will say I did like the atmosphere the most this episode. But again this game really lacks on choice. I do not like at all that the conflict at the end can't be resolved because the game does not allow you to choose to not destroy the weapon. I understand for Drummer's character it makes sense, but to that I say do not write a plot about making choices and incorporate a major plot element that would normally be presented as a choice when it will not give you one and will go in circles about why it won't give you the choice while Maya is out here doing the classic "Have you considered this option!" and the game still never allows it. The brothers betrayal also feels a bit out of no where in my opinion and is there for drama without much thought for why these characters are doing it. Just a "We need drama" scene. That said I do like the ending of the episode as it at least brought some tension and lead to Maya's death which was an overall good scene.
I just hope episode 4 finally relaxes a bit on the exploration stuff. Unless episode 4 is us finding a way off the ship and that is it lol. The thing about Maya dying was I feel like I didn't care that much and she was probably the most fleshed out character at this point. I think the focus so much on exploring really hurts getting to actually know and connect with the characters because sure Drummer is talking with them while exploring (Although this was basically the Drummer Maya episode with no one else) but without seeing their face or having any kind of emotional cut scenes (and the weirdly long pauses) they become pretty easy to disregard.
Considering I got an achievement for picking up all the salvage in the game, yeah, I don't we're going to be doing any other big space exploration salvage scenes, I'd only expect us to use it to move about scenes.
I really liked that episode. It was REALLY short! Like the shortest telltale episode yet at just under a fucking hour (what??) but I loved the environmental storytelling and the focus on Drummer and Maya. They finally figured out how to pace a good exploration area! I never felt lost or frustrated like I did in episode 2. The one action scene was super lame but the last 10 mins of the episode was INTENSE. I hope the episodes aren't as short but if they are; they better be as good as this one.
So did Maya really die because I slept with her??? Death by snu snu. Give me a BREAK! Edit: People are saying the medicine is important in order to keep her alive if you sleep with her. Y'know the medicine that a majority of players couldn't find cause episode 2s exploration section was a confusing mess. AWESOME
Im still not sure, but Ive understood that id you found the medicine in ep2 and gave it to the twins, Maya may live if you then trust Rayen in ep3. I have not seen this with my own eye, so I may just be spreading misinformation !
I really liked that episode. It was REALLY short! Like the shortest telltale episode yet at just under a fucking hour (what??) but I loved t… morehe environmental storytelling and the focus on Drummer and Maya. They finally figured out how to pace a good exploration area! I never felt lost or frustrated like I did in episode 2. The one action scene was super lame but the last 10 mins of the episode was INTENSE. I hope the episodes aren't as short but if they are; they better be as good as this one.
(Spoiler)
I did those, she died. My guess is it has to be determined by how good your relationship with her is, you can probably save her even after sleeping with her, but my guess is the other interactions with her throughout the episode (and possibly the previous two) determine whether or not she'll fight against Arlen.
Comments
Yeah she has some sort of PTSD flashback to being attacked by pirates.
Episode 2 is like almost there! I liked it. Maybe even a little more than episode 1 but man. Even tho the episode is longer it still felt really slow. Exploration is way too open for my liking and I actively dislike not being able to properly keep track of my items and where my cut off point is before losing out on an important side objective. The markers don't help too much. Maybe if the markers light went out if you gathered all the salvaged stuff in that ship? I also don't like feeling guilt tripped and missing out on crucial story content, especially when I can't find them! Episode 2 does some really cool stuff tho.
The drone stealth section was refreshing and pretty intense compared to the half- baked QTEs. Getting to just talk with the crew was pretty cool and I liked how the stuff you scavenge has an impact (Just wish it was easier to keep track of) Did anyone else feel the Maya romance feels a bit too early and sudden? I really like Maya but going from a cute scene to sudden "lets fuck" took me back a bit. The ending cliffhanger is bad. Its really bad and I actually laughed how nothing it was. I wish this was not episodic. At least make an attempt to shock and awe!
Hope episode 3 kicks things up a notch
There actually is a promo teaser in the Behind the Belt video. It's only like 15 seconds long, so its much more similar to a tv promo than a full on trailer. Really weird that theyd hide it in a video a majority of people wont watch though. They really oughta market.
Also, its nice to see you sir
Oh man this is one of my biggest issues right now. Its way too formulaic with its predictability. It undermines one of the biggest thing telltale excelled at which was how by the end of a telltale episode you always got somewhere by the end. Conversation trees continuously moving the plot along while here...eh. I don't love it. I hear from achievements that optional objectives take a backseat after episode 3 so I'm hoping the last 2 episodes are way more plot driven.
Yeah, before the episode started I was wondering if it would have a similar structure. Wouldn't be surprised if episode 3 is exploring the new ship then returning back and the episode ends again. I like the exploring in this game, but I don't want the bulk of the time being exploring a similar abandoned space ship and calling it an episode. Doesn't help the only character interactions you get during this big open segments are over radio waves that have very weird long pauses or when the game decides someone is also outside with you, even though it feels like you are alone.
Also because you mentioned romance in your other comment, I agree that the Maya romance came up a bit fast. I also feel like it wasn't developed enough either which I think is kind of a continuous issue with a lot of these games including Deck Nine's and Telltale's previous games. I ended up going with the Maya romance, but not really because I was that invested in it, but because I just wanted to see what will happen. I did the same with Batman and TFS. Out of all these kinds of games I feel like TFTBL and Wolf are the only 2 I felt invested in the romance options/romance plot. I think that is mostly because I feel there was better chemistry with the characters than just romance and the romantic scenes are more than just "You entered romance scene! Kiss? Kiss scene, kiss now??? You should kiss now!!!" The Rhys and Sasha scenes are more flirty and the end choice is giving her a flower instead of "You've unlocked sex!" and the Bigby and Snow moments were always this awkward "Will they won't they" stuff like the car scene and the start of episode 4. More going on than just "entering the romance scene." ᵃˡˢᵒ ʳʰʸᶦᵒⁿᵃ ᶠᵒʳ ˡᶦᶠᵉ
Oh hey, speak of the devil.
Yep just straight up took the promo from the Behind the Belt vid. Next time they should probably release it a couple days before !
So far, I don't really like this season. The characters aren't fleshed out; story-wise, too little is happening. It seems that story development has suffered in favor of better gameplay.
The Gameplay certainly is better than in previous Telltale Games. However, if this improvement comes at the cost of weaker storytelling, I don't want it.
This makes the stories in ANF, GOTG, and Minecraft masterpieces. Say what you want about those games and their characters, but at least they were fleshed out. And a ton of fucking shit was happening in an episode. Now it's just: intro-scene -> big-ass exploration -> end-scene. That's not an improvement, in my humble opinion.
As a TellTale fan who played all their games from TWDG S1, this pains me to see, seeing how this was supposed to be their comeback. I'm really hoping that with TWAU S2, they will go back to their roots. I don' think the gameplay in this game is really the main selling point anyway.
The exploration just feels like filler, as if they didn't know what the fuck else they should put in the story
Yeah, I got this too. Super weird, why the heck is Episode 2 just... blank.
Finally the DLC showed up on the store, so I tried installing that but still, blank.
The PS5 quick resume activity fixed it.
But it doesn't always reliably appear so idk what else I could've done..
This is a shameful bug tbh. Really unusual.
Edit: Also yeah, this game REALLY needs better save points.
I just played up until you get to the first spacewalk in Ep2. Then quit out to see if the menu was good.
It is. Episode 2 has a chapter select and play game option.
BUT, up until it gave me full control, there wasn't a single save point. So here I am, restarting the episode from the beginning again, because of weird auto-saves...
(Also Episode 1 now says "New Game" whereas Ep2 says "Restart". This menu is weird and I don't know why it doesn't register Ep1 on my two files as completed...)
This review of episode 2 really sums up my feelings. I think Deck Nine is confusing the term episodic for formulaic. Really hope episode 3 proves me wrong.
https://www.destructoid.com/review-the-expanse-a-telltale-series-episode-2/
After playing episode 2 I have the slight impression that the episodic format was thought of at the last moment, 15s trailer on the day of the episode release, episodes ending in an anti-climactic and emotionless way...
My only fear is that the rest of the episodes follow this formula of:
After all we are talking about Deck Nine and who played Life is Strange: Before the Storm knows how horrible/waste of time that game was! Apparently Telltale's REAL game will be The Wolf Among Us 2, maybe some new Batman game as well since we see him in the current logos.
One thing is for certain, this is a Deck Nine game with the Telltale name slapped on it
I agree with most of what you say. The pacing really felt lacking, I think it is because of the extensive free-roaming parts, which I found a bit boring after a while and I don´t think it plays to telltale strengths to do that. Because I had to explore a lot I found myself just wanting to get to the next "more intense" part, rather than talking to all of the crew about their own stories after I had just experienced a slow exploring part.
I thought the QuickTime events this episode were better though, liked that.
I agree with what you say. The pacing really felt lacking, I think it is because of the extensive free-roaming parts, which I found a bit boring after a while and I don´t think it plays to telltale strengths to do that. Also didn't like how you don't get a lot of choices/options if you don't spend time roaming and looking for stuff, rather than just choosing interesting dialogue options.
I thought the QuickTime events in this episode were better though, liked that.
So episode 2 feels largely like a retread of the first one, explore and scavenge a ship and escape pirates. Hope they change things up for the next one.
Did enjoy the conversation (however much of a conversation it is, you don't get that much input in terms of what you wanna say) with Khan if you give her the cigar, but didn't find the other objects other than random salvage so I guess I missed some longer conversations with the rest of the crew. Didn't expect to be able to go in to the Maya romance this early on, makes it seem more like a fling than anything more serious, and given that it's a prequel I guess that makes sense. Although that feels like the writers are making it easy for themselves, I recommend them to look at Better Call Saul for inspiration in this particular matter.
Also in general do the voices sound slightly muffled to anyone else? When they're talking face to face without helmets or anything it doesn't sound as clear as it should.
All things considered I'm still looking forward to the rest of the season to see where it lands.
The game needs an option to travel faster when in space
So from what I gathered, they were doing that whole stop and go routine with the pirates for about a week, meaning her arm wasn’t fully treated. During that time, according to Virgil’s notes somewhere in his office, she developed sepsis, thus requiring the amputation.
Yikes, gotta be real probably one of the worst ways to establish time has passed. Scene opens like it was where we just left off in episode 1 with the only real hint is the brothers saying that this time they escaped "The time before that and 10 times before that" which is pretty vague as it doesn't do a real time frame, is an exaggeration, and can also be taken as simply dealing with pirates before. Thought the whole episode took place right after ep 1.
Yeah it was really clumsily handled. But during Drummer’s talk with the pirate captain, she said something about being strapped in her crash chair for a week because of them, so time did pass. It just could have been explained A LOT better. Not too much to ask for a time card at the beginning of the episode saying “One week later.”
Man, idk this legit has me kind of mad. This feels embarrassing from a directorial stand point. (Over exaggeration, but still. Most clear mention of time passing is like 40 minutes into the episode during the segment where you have to avoid pirates and turrets and shit.)
Finally got around to playing the latest episode this week.
Agreed with plenty other people here that this one felt quite longer (for me I'd say about 45-50 mins longer) than the first episode. I'm sure the big "crew check-in" after the spacewalk sequence really helped with that, there was a lot of conversations and optional quests to complete.
I like that a lot of the salvage found can also impact optional objectives. But also it means they reeeeally like to hide some of the more "important" pieces for no reason other than keeping you from 100%. This episode, there was the medicine that's on the underside corner of a random flat piece of debris, instead of like... near the med-bay like one would hope? Episode 1 had a random salvage piece waaaay far out away from the ship on a piece of debris, one character even mentions "Yo Drummer, how'd you know that was there?? You got like a sixth sense or something!!" smh no, no idea how I would've guessed it's that far out...
The sequence of events was pretty similar to Episode 1 which was kinda eehh, but at least we got a lot of time to develop the crew after things.
That cliffhanger was also pretty abrupt again, and the "big choice" in this episode was kinda underwhelming.
Overall I'd say this is a decent series, but has a lot that it could still do better.
I'm sure I'll be starting Batman 2 again very soon, since this series isn't totally scratching that "Telltale Narrative Itch" for me. I need more plot development in an episode, please!
Also, just a few technical issues that bother me and are unlikely to be smoothed over:
Also good to know the "X scene warnings" prompt kinda works properly?
The Maya and Drummer romance is neat, and I like how, well, blunt they went with their flirting sometimes. "Someone is gonna get slammed against a wall" ooh omg??
However it doesn't totally feel earned yet. "Fucking Finally" Maya says, but we've only really had like 2 small romantic interactions with her in the past 2 hours. I feel like we needed one or two more teases...
The time-skip should have been better communicated, yeah! I knew there was some specific length of time passed, since it's briefly mentioned at the start they've been escaping for a while, but it's not easy to pick up on that overall!
I wonder if it might be that Anderson Station mentioned in a text log in someone's room? A mining colony that went on strike, then was obliterated by the military, deflecting responsibility.
(The Expanse books)
Anderson Station is kind of a historical site in The Expanse, since it was, as you mentioned, kind of obliterated, when Belters protested poor treatment nearly 200 armed people and 1000 civilians were killed all caught on camera, to which a character in the main series became known as "The Butcher of Anderson Station". I think the TV series changed it so that none of them were armed. Anyway it's not a mining colony so I don't think it'll be Anderson Station, although funnily enough it is an ore refinery, so maybe they could connect this place to Anderson Station, which would be neat.
I can't believe it wasn't in any of the three medical facilities that you can find lmao. I was killing myself with motion sickness looking through every crevice of those rooms.
15 second teaser for ep3 has been released at the end of behind the belt. Hopefully they release it individually earlier this time !
A little behind the scenes look at the mocap for Virgil cooking lol
That's so cute (and neat) to see!
Telltale Motion Capture woo!!
I haven't checked out those Behind the scenes videos yet, I really should! At least should help give fun insight into the episodes, even if we may find them a little lacking in bits so far...
So! Tomorrow is the day for early access. Fingers crossed.
EDIT: so I'm totally wrong about the main menu, there really is no Continue option for some reason, ugh, it's strange.
Does early access start today? When does Telltale drop the new episodes early?
They released a time chart:
For Deluxe PS5 players who has passed midnight and still dont have it. Go to your game and manage game content, episode 3 is in there and you can download it from there. I couldnt see it in add-ons in the shop, but I found it there.
Episode 3 must've been the shortest one yet, less exploration than the previous two and barely even interacted with most of the crew.
Sad to see Maya die, what did you have to do to keep her alive?
Probably choose to not fuck her in ep2
Huh, didn't expect this game to tie into plot stuff from the main series, but cool to see. Also, very cool way of dooming Maya by the narrative of this prequel, either you get too close to her so she needs to die or you don't form a tight relationship so it makes sense that she won't stick around with Drummer.
I don't know about this episode. I think it once again has a lot of the same flaws as before with the episode being very short and really being nothing but exploring a spaceship. I will say I did like the atmosphere the most this episode. But again this game really lacks on choice. I do not like at all that the conflict at the end can't be resolved because the game does not allow you to choose to not destroy the weapon. I understand for Drummer's character it makes sense, but to that I say do not write a plot about making choices and incorporate a major plot element that would normally be presented as a choice when it will not give you one and will go in circles about why it won't give you the choice while Maya is out here doing the classic "Have you considered this option!" and the game still never allows it. The brothers betrayal also feels a bit out of no where in my opinion and is there for drama without much thought for why these characters are doing it. Just a "We need drama" scene. That said I do like the ending of the episode as it at least brought some tension and lead to Maya's death which was an overall good scene.
I just hope episode 4 finally relaxes a bit on the exploration stuff. Unless episode 4 is us finding a way off the ship and that is it lol. The thing about Maya dying was I feel like I didn't care that much and she was probably the most fleshed out character at this point. I think the focus so much on exploring really hurts getting to actually know and connect with the characters because sure Drummer is talking with them while exploring (Although this was basically the Drummer Maya episode with no one else) but without seeing their face or having any kind of emotional cut scenes (and the weirdly long pauses) they become pretty easy to disregard.
Considering I got an achievement for picking up all the salvage in the game, yeah, I don't we're going to be doing any other big space exploration salvage scenes, I'd only expect us to use it to move about scenes.
Man, achievements still don't work on pc.
I really liked that episode. It was REALLY short! Like the shortest telltale episode yet at just under a fucking hour (what??) but I loved the environmental storytelling and the focus on Drummer and Maya. They finally figured out how to pace a good exploration area! I never felt lost or frustrated like I did in episode 2. The one action scene was super lame but the last 10 mins of the episode was INTENSE. I hope the episodes aren't as short but if they are; they better be as good as this one.
So did Maya really die because I slept with her??? Death by snu snu. Give me a BREAK! Edit: People are saying the medicine is important in order to keep her alive if you sleep with her. Y'know the medicine that a majority of players couldn't find cause episode 2s exploration section was a confusing mess. AWESOME
Im still not sure, but Ive understood that id you found the medicine in ep2 and gave it to the twins, Maya may live if you then trust Rayen in ep3. I have not seen this with my own eye, so I may just be spreading misinformation !
I did those, she died. My guess is it has to be determined by how good your relationship with her is, you can probably save her even after sleeping with her, but my guess is the other interactions with her throughout the episode (and possibly the previous two) determine whether or not she'll fight against Arlen.