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    Telltale’s The Walking Dead

    I only just found out that this game was released so I quickly hopped on to my UK Xbox account to download it for 3.99 (since it won't get a Japanese Xbox release) and while I was at it I bought the season pass.

    So what's the game like? Well, you can import your save file from the first game so I'm not sure if that will affect how the game starts but just to be safe from spoilers I won't tell you. What I can say is that you now play as Clementine (as you'd expect) and instantly you start to feel for the girl. The voice acting, story and graphics are all just as solid as the original game. In fact you'll actually feel a little squeamish at one certain point. The gameplay is pretty much the same although there are a few new QTE style events in there which are actually pretty easy.

    There's not much I can say without spoiling the game so let's just say, if you enjoyed the original then the magic is continued here.
    Last edited by Brad; 01-04-2019, 05:58.

    #2
    Thanks Yakumo, really wanting this. I played the first season on Vita but a vita release date is yet to be confirmed, will it change much by starting a new save and playing this on pc?

    Comment


      #3
      Can this be a general Walking Dead season 2 thread? Or given there isn't a huge amount of discussion, should we just have one combined Walking Dead game thread?

      Anyway, played through ep1 of season 2 today. The look is a little different, more cel shaded this time and more comic booky as a result which is fine. Playing as Clementine is a little odd and I'm not certain yet it was the right choice but she has grown up a bit and it's great to see how the passage of time since season 1 has affected her.

      Got to admit I was gutted that

      they pulled an Alien3 and killed Omid and Christa. I really liked those characters and either one could have been the main character of season 2.

      But the real heart-wrenching part of ep1 was the

      dog bit.

      That really got to me and, emotionally, I found it right up there with the best of season 1. It's bleaker and calmer and lonelier but I still thought this episode was really well done. Generally, I thought it was a really good follow up...

      ...until I hit the end of the episode and I was left going: what, is that it? It was a sudden and very unsatisfying end to the episode. The one thing season 1 got spot on was that each episode was like a self-contained chapter in itself, like a short story that was part of a bigger story. Each led to the next but had a satisfying conclusion in itself. The exception was probably ep4 but that was leading to the final part. The earlier chapters had great endings. This episode didn't have an end. It just stopped.

      So I think that was a problem and I think it undid some good work in this episode. It would have especially done so for those getting the episodes at launch and having to wait for the next.

      And yet I do think there was great stuff in this episode. A quieter, more miserable episode but still good. On to ep 2...

      Comment


        #4
        I'm amazed this thread didn't get more of a response, is there another thread we're missing? I only finished Season 2 the other day having waited for episode 5 to be released before starting.

        It's a really tough one to discuss without giving anything away or even hints as to what may happen. I have issues with season two as I did season one, but I will say that if you enjoyed season one - as I did a lot - then season two is well worth it.

        Comment


          #5
          Glad I'm not completely alone in here!

          I finished episode 2 and felt pretty much the same as the first one - some great stuff but it just ended. Rather than feeling like individual structured episodes, so far this feels like one big story broken randomly. I did love the bit in the

          ski lodge though because I knew pretty much instantly what had happened their missing guy and knew that it was all going to kick off. Tons of tension in that and yet surprises too because it didn't play out as I expected.



          Will be playing more this evening. Still not sure yet that Clementine was the best choice for main character here. She spends a lot of time being told what to do which doesn't make me feel quite as involved in the main decisions.

          Comment


            #6
            Well episode 3 was stunning with a fantastic ending. Took a lot to get me on side with this episode actually because I felt like they were

            pulling a Governor story and really they were and the Walking Dead has always felt a little more childish with cartoon bad guys. The comic got away with it because they kept it pretty short even if devastating but I felt Negan got ridiculous and I left the comic behind at the end of the All Out War storyline. So this Carver story feels very similar and I have to admit I don't find that anywhere near as interesting as the clear cut survival journey like in season 1.

            Nevertheless the Telltale strength of storytelling pulled me in and I was gripped by the end of the episode. What a climax.



            And I found dealing with the Clementine I am now playing as very tough knowing where she started. For me, this is Carl from the comics done much better (must admit the TV show tainted my enjoyment of some of the comic threads because of its rubbishness). She is growing up and doing so in a very tough environment. They don't overplay it or make her out to be weird, it's just there. A harder edge. I miss little Clem but the progression is great.

            So I loved ep3. But the start of ep4 committed a gaming crime in my opinion. Ep3 ended with

            the choice with Sarita and then the start of ep4 rendered that choice meaningless instantly. I wouldn't have minded that happening together and playing out like that but making it an ending to a chapter and then undoing it in the next is cheap, IMO.



            Still, I'm really into this. I miss season 1 and this is very different. I do have issues with the episode breaks and there is a bleakness here that comes with later zombie stories after the world settles a bit which is, well, unsettling. But it's still all very strong and I do appreciate that it is not a rehash of season 1.

            Comment


              #7
              So I've finished season 2. Man, that was bleak. It was plain ugly. There was no niceness to it at all. Overall, I thought it was great. Felt very different to season 1 and managed to explore a whole bunch of different stuff. I didn't feel like it was structured as well as season 1 though and I think, while some of the last events were fantastic, the very ending was a problem.

              The characters generally were great and I got really attached it a few of them. They really know how to work that.

              Now the final episode (major spoilers obviously)...

              the last episode felt slow and bleak and, mostly, I loved it for that. They beat me over the head with a few character points I already knew which there was no need for but they did really build those tensions. We all knew where this would go from very early on and knowing that didn't take away its power in my opinion. When it al kicked off, I felt so uncomfortable. I was attached to Kenny mostly through history and also knowing how he got to where he was. I was hugely fond of Jane. I liked most of the group. So I desperately wanted to repair everything. But it wasn't to be.

              The game forced me to choose sides and I found that incredibly hard to do.



              So I was feeling sick to my stomach as it all played out, knowing it was never going to work. The writers really made that difficult in the best possible way. But then there was the very ending.

              I feel that Telltale may have reacted to criticism by putting in a last minute decision that drastically affects the ending. I think that was a huge mistake.

              It led to a fracture in the storytelling, with outcomes not quite feeling right. The ending I got was the only one that made sense to me in terms of the decisions. And yet I found it very unsatisfying. I went in and played the last bit again, making a choice that I never would have made at all and got to see a much better ending and yet one that I knew didn't really make sense to me. Obviously it didn't quite have power given that I just replayed that last bit to see it. I tried again another way and got another ending, again through a choice that to me made no sense given the context. Now maybe those choices make sense to others which probably leaves the other choices making no sense to them but I'm not convinced by how satisfying these endings are.

              And so the result is at the very least three vastly different and completely incompatible endings. A strong story needs to build to a strong ending and if endings can't just go in any direction and be expected to be all that strong. I think this splintering at the very end took away some of the strength that could have come if it had all been going to a single carefully chosen place. The endings felt like generic game endings rather than the climax of the first season.

              And the other big issue with that is that if there is a season 3, there will be no choice but to undo these endings very quickly into the first episode because they don't provide the same jump off. And pretty much every secondary character involved is now out of bounds for season 3 as a result.

              I think the multiple endings was a bad idea. It was a final fumble in an otherwise excellent story.

              So that was disappointing. But it wasn't enough to take away the good in this season. It was dark, harrowing and very uncomfortable. Generally some wonderful narrative. It's funny because there are no events in this season that sound darker than some of the twisted stuff in season 1 and yet it just all felt so much more hopeless and I think that atmosphere got under my skin. A sign of good writing.

              I'll likely play this again at some point to see how else little events might play out. Shame 400 Days didn't have much of an impact here although I guess it was enjoyable on its own and that's what matters.

              Comment


                #8
                Couldn't agree more with your writeup there. I thought Season 2 was much darker than the first (which wasn't exactly a nice game to start with) but I did feel they tried too hard to shock, often at the cost of the story telling. As you've pointed out this is especially true of the ending and I did leave feeling underwhelmed, which is such a shame after the amazing end to season one. To be clear, the final gameplay moment is brilliant, but the conclusion is unsatisfying.

                The party you belong to was pretty good, and the likes of Jane were interesting characters but some of the others...such as...erm...uh, can't remember, were just bland and forgettable. They also made it too obvious that a character was about to get killed, by suddenly doing character development when previously they were just in the background. The first season also suffered from this to some extent, but overall it had a much deeper and more interesting selection of characters. And going back to the first point about the game being much darker, because the characters weren't as strong, some of these shock moments didn't work as well as they perhaps should. The core characters did work off of each other well though, so although weaker than the first season it's still along way from being weak.

                As a fan of season one I really enjoyed season 2 as it is a worthy followup. Sure, it's not quite as powerful and the story isn't as well focused, but it is still more gripping and horrifying than most games can achieve.

                I hope they do a season three, but I think they need to start afresh. New characters, new setting.

                Comment


                  #9
                  I think they have already announced a season 3 but I think they've said it is a long way off. I only have one reason for wanting to see our surviving characters back again and that's to give them a better single ending to their story. I felt I didn't have closure with season 2 in the same way we got it for season 1. It didn't quite feel like the end of the story but I think that depends on the ending you get.

                  I'd like a better ending.

                  But that could be done within the framework of new characters and I have a suspicion that we'll see that. Due to the multiple endings, it will be difficult to carry on the story coherently. But have a new character and group and their own story and it could eventually meet up with characters from season 2 and give a "here's what happened" explanation. An easier way to reconcile the endings while also giving us a new start.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Started last night, still simmering through losing my previous saves but continued on anyway.

                    Oof.. had me seriously squirming in places, but just love it to pieces.

                    It'd be interesting to see if this game performs better on the next gen consoles, as I was getting all sorts of juddery nonsense..

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Well. Just finished. I thought it was superb.

                      It didn't have the emotional impact of season one for me by a long shot, but it delivered on story telling and a pulled me in and made me downright miserable at the hopeless nature of the characters struggle.

                      Buy it and experience both seasons.

                      But be prepared to cry at some point.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        I did a search for Walking Dead game threads and there are very few with not a huge amount of responses (we may have lost one in the purge) so any chance we could make this a general Walking Dead seasons 2-4 thread? [MENTION=10111]QualityChimp[/MENTION]

                        Anyway, since this thread Season 3 and the Final season have happened. Telltale was brought down midway through the Final season which makes it interesting from a development point of view and it looked like it might never get finished but, now that it’s finally done, I have got it and have been playing it on Switch so here are some impressions of episodes 1 and 2.

                        I think we all have felt that Telltale struggled a bit to follow up season 1. Season 2 was incredibly bleak and I felt it was generally good but it fumbled the ending badly. Season 3 was a bit more consistent than 2 but really wasn’t special in any way. It was pretty good but forgettable. To the point where I honestly have no memory of what happened the other main character. The Final season would always have its work cut out for it because they have been living in the shadow of that initial season and especially the character of Lee. But it’s an opportunity to bring the story to a close.

                        So how is it? So far, it’s good. It’s very different to season 1 and really it’s different to the other seasons too. The main reason is that, so far, the season is set around one place rather than going on journeys. They did that for parts of seasons 2 and 3 but varied a lot from episode to episode. There is much more of a sense of permanence here, which is an interesting choice and makes clear they weren’t going to try to redo season 1, which must have been a big temptation given it’s the final season. Now I have an issue with settlements in The Walking Dead. The games and the comics alike have never managed to show characters successfully maintaining one. Instead, they find them ready made. And the undead cease to become a threat which means that you always know people will do really stupid avoidable things to ruin everything. That survival struggle of the early comic or first season is gone.

                        The same is true here but it comes with a difference. Where season 2 was utterly bleak and put characters through the ringer, the Final season is surprisingly optimistic. Yes, there’s the usual drama and raiders and so on but it’s not a mean-spirited game. It’s almost like they decided that maybe we want to see some people being happy at this point. And I love that. It’s remarkably low drama for a Walking Dead game. It’s more about just getting along with the people around Clem with the central element being how AJ will turn out with all this stuff going on around him.

                        Sure, there are some tense moments and one choice that happened so quickly I didn’t even realise who I had put in danger until after it happened so it still has some of that usual Walking Dead stuff but it also has Clem making friends and even more than friends and it’s really sweet. I didn’t think we’d see sweet in a Walking Dead game but, thinking back, maybe that’s what we loved about Lee. He was a good guy in a hard world and sometimes we just want to see nice things happen.

                        I half wonder if the more static nature of it was a budgetary decision but it works. I’m two eps down now and so I’m about to start the post-Telltale stuff so it will be interesting to see if I notice a difference.

                        Oh, gameplay wise, one thing I like is that there are way more walking around parts rather than just story to story beats. There were a few of those in the first season but not so many after that. I like them. The other thing is that I’m struggling badly with control on Switch. I played all the other on iPad and they are so easy to play on that. But on Switch I am constantly having to look down on the controller to see which buttons are which (damn you Nintendo for reversing your button letters) and some threat sequences I have had to play a bunch of times because you can die really quickly. Not a big fan of that because I feel it breaks the immersion but it’s mostly happening because I don’t know which buttons are where.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Hold me.

                          I have finished the final season. Without getting into any emotional stuff or story, I felt ep3 was excellent and may have been the best episode of the season but, in all honesty, ep4 was a mixed bag and it’s a shame given that it was the final episode of the final season. It’s hard not to think they had a bit of dealing with Paul Walker dying in losing Telltale, if you know what I mean. They had to cobble it together to get it finished and, I guess with that in mind, they did a good job. But the episode feels short, empty and has pacing issues.

                          But even with that, I feel they delivered what must have been very hard to deliver: an ending to a journey that has been going many years across four seasons. And especially difficult when the first of those was so well received. It was a tough ask but, even with some questions I’d have over the nature of the season, they did it for me. They concluded it in a very satisfying way. Hard to say more without getting into big spoilers.

                          The season is definitely a much more low key season. It feels smaller in every way - length, area, drama. They never tried to one-up stuff they did in previous seasons in any way. And even dramatic moments happened in a more matter of fact way, like they know it could have felt cheap to think they’d get the same emotional punch from the same tricks. Instead what is here is a story of people trying to get along in a dangerous world. It’s a season made up of the little personal moments, not the big traumas. And I feel that was a good call. I think it might not be for everyone - go in expecting the same as season 1 and you won’t find what you’re looking for. This is a smaller tale and, in many ways, a more gentle one.

                          And yet it still has a couple of those uncomfortable moments, where you know almost immediately that you’ve done the wrong thing. AJ makes that even more interesting because, late into the season, he can act on what you have taught him - you don’t get to control that and, by that stage, the ship has sailed and you’re going to see some (albeit limited) consequence to your previous actions. On AJ, he’s pretty hard to like and, in that sense, is the anti-Clem. He was born into this world where instead we found Clem as an innocent. So where we see Clem lose her innocence in season 1 of The Walking Dead, I found my play of the final season was often about trying to make him a better person. And I definitely failed at a few points mainly because what I was getting Clem to say and what I got her to do were two different things. There is a sequence toward the end that demonstrates the devs pretty much knew that would happen, which I have to give them some kudos for. They really brought it home well.

                          The emotion I’m left with is mostly that it’s an end to a journey I have really enjoyed, with a main character I have grown very attached to. It’s a real shame what happened to Telltale, especially as this season was shaping together really nicely when they went down.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Skybound have announced a definitive edition of these games. A new collection with fixes and a whole rake of extras in some pretty expensive packages. Looks great but no Switch version. Boo!

                            I have been on a replay journey so may as well post some thoughts starting with...

                            The Walking Dead Game Season 1

                            This season tells the story of a guy, Lee, on his way to prison when the zombie outbreak occurs. He quickly finds himself at the house of a little 8 year old girl called Clementine and he takes her with him. So it’s kind of like a father/daughter story in a world of death and horrors. This game is now a true classic. And it really earns that place and holds up in spite of some jankiness. The animation in the first episode is glitchy but that seems to improve quite a bit over the next episodes. But what I didn’t really remember is that the dialogue system can be janky too. Kenny in particular is like someone with a personality disorder where he loves you in one line and is cursing you in the next. The system of reactions isn’t smooth at all.

                            In spite of this, the game manages to tell a fantastic and very emotional story. Everyone remembers the ending but the game is full of emotion and tough moments right from that first episode. What it does brilliantly is to put you in a difficult situation without it feeling too forced or cheap, you make your choice and then often instantly regret it. And that’s the genius here. It kind of torments you for things you’ve done. The choices we make often have to be made quickly and are usually about the welfare of the group, rarely with an obvious right answer - for everything gained, something usually has to be sacrificed. They get that spot on in the first season and it leaves you wondering what would have happened if you had made another choice. As it happens, the answer is usually: mostly the same thing. But that’s usually okay because the writers are telling a really good story and, rather than a real Choose Your Own Adventure system, it is taking you through that defined story, letting you influence it without breaking it.

                            There are a couple of points, however, where that funnelling doesn’t seem as natural as it should. One really stands out to me which is that, at a certain point you can make a plan with Clementine to go look for her parents but, when you get there, the game will not allow you to do that. It even has an option to say you will but it says (lie) beside it... but I didn’t want to lie. I just wanted to stick to the plan we made. But generally, the story is very controlled and it works and it’s also how they make the emotion work. You can have Lee react in more angry ways or have him sound a little harsh but the game is still about a guy doing the right thing and taking care of a little girl. No matter how you play it, that doesn’t change. Lee is ultimately a good guy and Clementine is innocent and adorable and you do all you can to protect her.

                            I think that’s one reason the story works so well. It’s in a hard world and the writers make bad, unsettling things happen and yet, at its core, it’s a story that’s anchored by goodness. Whether we’re conscious of it or not, I think we want Lee to succeed because he’s a good guy, even if he has to do some hard things on the journey. It’s interesting to step back a bit and take note of the fact that they almost always place Lee in between two extremes (like between Lilly and Kenny for example) and, in doing so, no matter which way you make him lean he will feel more rational and controlled. We like him.

                            As a game, the team try out a few different things here. Ultimately it’s like an interactive TV show but the 4th episode tries to get more game-like and it’s to the detriment of the overall experience, unfortunately. Finding items, solving little puzzles, a little backtracking. It’s the weakest episode as a result, in spite of starting with a very strong narrative moment. But the 5th episode is a return to form leading to a very emotional finish. I think that ending probably stays with most people who have played the game.

                            Overall, the first season is a real triumph of interactive storytelling. One of the most perfect blends of narrative and game, even with that balance not quite feeling right in the 4th episode. It’s a fantastic story all the way through and takes us on a tough journey and, in doing so, really attaches us to Lee and little Clementine. It’s a superb experience.
                            Last edited by Dogg Thang; 19-04-2019, 08:54.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              More replay progress:

                              400 Days

                              This is an extra DLC episode added to season 1 but it really stands alone and, for me, is one of the most interesting Walking Dead game episodes. Instead of following a single story, this one off episode comprises of several mini stories, each about a different character and taking place at a different time somewhere in the first 400 days of the outbreak. What binds the stories is location as each one takes place close to a little truck stop, although only a couple are spent there so there is plenty of variety here. Some stories have a little meat but most are really moments and they work really well that way. One is about two guys in a car just trying to get away from a guy chasing them in a truck and they end up lost in a forest. Another involves catching a lift in that same truck and ending up in a shootout at the truck stop. One story (Shel’s story) has a bit more to it, featuring a group of survivors and some tough choices. Each one is different and they work really well as small stories. The characters can continue into season 2 but mostly no more than cameos. This is fine - 400 Days works great as a stand-alone piece.

                              The Walking Dead Game Season 2

                              The real continuation picks up with little Clementime a few months after season 1, showing what happened to her before jumping 20 months on again for the story proper. This time, instead of Lee, we play as Clementine who is now about 11. Following season 1 was always going to be tough and one thing I like about season 2 is that it feels quite different. It’s not a retread. The story involved Clementine finding a new group of survivors and what seems to be a safe place but they have a bit of history that is about to catch up with them and it feels like it’s probably not going to end well.

                              And really, this is one mean-spirited story. It is bleak, nasty and very dark. Season 1 went to some dark places but it always kind of felt horrified with you or recognised the emotion of the situation. Season 2 is like thoughtless torment. It will have terrible things happen and not even let them sink in before carrying on. It feels very deliberate. It’s a bleak season. Clementine is still only 11 but she’s harder and gives hints that she could possibly be losing a bit of humanity. In what to me feels like a good move, they introduce her to a group of survivors who actually seem like pretty nice people... but then the writers delight in making their lives a misery.

                              So it’s a hard season. For me, one of the defining moments of the whole season comes right at the start when you encounter a dog and, well, pretty much every act of kindness there is punished. It’s like it was a statement of intent for the season.

                              One difficulty with this season is that the characters feel a little less varied. It’s only really very noticeable on these replays but season 1’s characters are actually quite cartoony, both in looks and personalities. Season 2 tries to make them a bit more real and season 3 takes that much further but the one downside is that it kind of pulls a lot of characters towards the centre. Couple that with meeting many characters at once rather than a couple at a time and it’s hard to get a sense of some of the personalities. But there are still some very strong characters in here and the season pits several of them against each other.

                              And that’s another aspect that feels mean-spirited. In the first season, Lee often had to choose between two different points of view, two different people. But it was usually about what was best. Season 2 instead makes it about the people - you’re picking favourites and you will likely instant be punished by the other person. It’s like having your parents fighting and making you pick who you want to stay with. Ultimately, I think this impacts the final episode which has large portions dedicated to two characters giving out about each other and then it leads to what I feel is a very contrived ending which never really quite worked for me and, on replay, still doesn’t. And yet it doesn’t in any way kill the season at all. It’s a good season but it’s a tough one. Very different to the first and, as a result, manages to have something to offer.

                              One difficulty though which we felt at the time and feels even more apparent now is that having the main character be a kid was a real challenge for the writers. There are so many instances of: we’re all adults but let’s get this kid to do it. It was always going to be a challenge with that choice of main character.

                              Still, a good season if a bleak one.

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