Poll: Let's talk about Telltale's The Walking Dead (Spoiler Alert! S1 & S2)

[tippy2k2]

I've been trying to think of an excuse for this thread since beating Season 2 earlier today. I could go with "What game makes you feel your feelings" but that's been played out. I was considering a "Can TellTale get away with these types of games forever" kind of thing but I kind of already know the answer to that. Then I realized....

Fuck it, I wanna talk Walking Dead (even if it is almost a year old) so let's talk Walking Dead.

SPOILERS abound so if you haven't played S1 or S2, I would strongly strongly strongly strongly strongly strongly recommend that you go do so because they're awesome and you will feel your feels right in the feel hole.

Anyway...

Holy shit! I thought that after Season 1 and the advice about keeping my hair short that there was no way that Telltale could match that. Holy hell was I wrong.

First off, I feel like your decisions in Season 2 mattered way more and were way harder than in Season 1. In Season 1, it wasn't often that I second guessed myself. In season 2, I did it constantly. Questioning who I can trust, who can't I trust, who do I try to help, who do I leave; just about everything in the game had me second guessing myself.

I felt like Season 1 didn't punish (or give you the illusion of punishment at least) when you made "noble" decisions. It was one of my main complaints about the game is that no matter what I did, shit would either hit the fan or avoid the fan based on the story. It felt like Season 2 was much more organic about it and it caused me to question repeatedly whether MY choice (whether it was actually my choice or not is negligible; it FELT like it was my choice) is what got people killed.

I am very curious to see how Telltale will handle another season (assuming it's following Clementine still...maybe that's already been announced and I wasn't paying attention). From the sound of it, there can be some pretty radical changes to the end pending what you did.

So what do you think of these games? Do you enjoy them as much as I do? Do you think TellTale can keep this up? Do you hate The Walking Dead and all zombie video games and stumbled in here on accident? I wanna talk Walking Dead damn it!!!

Also, how did your season 2 end (see poll; as a reminder, the baby is AJ)? Also, I'm going off of the Walking Dead wiki so I believe I have all the possible endings...

MY ENDING and thought process:
It hurt like hell to do it but I shot Kenny to save Jane. I felt that Kenny just couldn't be trusted anymore after everything that happened; his brain was shattering. I kind of guiltfully hoped that he would be killed at the blocked road by walkers so I wouldn't have to make a choice but when the choice was forced, I pulled the trigger.

I forgave Jane for what she did (I hate that she manipulated me that way but I understand what she was doing) and I did let the family into the hardware store. I question whether that was a good idea considering the track record with strangers in this season but I find it hard to force people away in the game...

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I thought that all the decisions were fairly easy. Basically I let everyone who acted like a prick toward me die/leave.

Other than Luke, Jane, and Mike I hated everyone by the end. Luke dies and there's no way to save him, and Mike decides to steal all your supplies and go off with Bonnie, and at that point I hated Bonny more than I liked Mike so I wasn't exactly despondent about him leaving, especially since after Clementine got shot he did nothing to save her. The choice between Kenny and Jane was an easy one considering how capable Jane is and how crazy Kenny was getting.

So yeah, all in all the decisions were fairly easy for me.

I also let the family into the store. If you'll notice during that entire interaction the guy has one hand behind his back. I figured that he had a gun back there (and he does) and that he would try to shoot if I refused. There didn't really seem to be a reason to refuse though, considering there was a lot of work to be done to refortify the store and Jane and Clementine would need the extra hands.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I was probably one of the only people who let Sarah die, but she was a GIGANTIC fuckup who got multiple people killed over her stupidity. I could not leave her in the trailer fast enough. Just felt the need to throw that out there, because every LP I've seen, everyone panders to Sarah and gets really upset when she dies anyway later on.

Anyway, as for the ending, I let Kenny kill Jane. She said not to interfere, so, she got exactly what she was asking for ('I'LL KILL YOU!' 'I KNEW YOU WOULD!')

Kenny was the only person who was always up front with Clementine, actually showed that he cared about her, and I agreed with him most of the time anyway. Jane showed herself to be untrustworthy and overly pragmatic to the point where it looped back around to being harmful. Yeah, Kenny was pissed and lashed out, but that's because everyone felt the need to keep pushing him. They would literally go out of their way to antagonize him. And in most cases, he ended up being right in the end anyway (Like how Arvo was a piece of shit who tried to get them killed, and that the camp in Wellington did exist).

Anyway, I ended up with Clem and AJ in Wellington. Kenny giving up everything for the sake of Clem and AJ after everything that he's been through felt like a satisfying character arc for him, and now Clem is safe where society seems to be rebuilding itself.

 

[tippy2k2]

And in most cases, he ended up being right in the end anyway (Like how Arvo was a piece of shit who tried to get them killed, and that the camp in Wellington did exist).

And seeing that Camp Wellington did exist made me feel just a little worse. Hell, his little talk after shooting him where he says he's sorry for what he did and doesn't blame me for killing him made me feel bad but knowing that he was kind of right...

I stand by my decision but still :,(

If you'll notice during that entire interaction the guy has one hand behind his back

I did not notice that. I let them in either way (I assumed he was armed since most people still alive at this point are going to have firearms on them) but that's a neat little detail. Ultimately, I let them in more for meta-game reasons; I don't want to feel like I missed content and if they stayed away, that would be me missing content.

 

[Zhukov]

I thought Season 2 wasn't as good as Season 1. Sure, they pulled it home in the end, but it sort of meandered around before getting there.

I ended up killing Kenny and going off with Jane. For all Kenny's good intentions, he was just done. Hell, if you go with him he even says that he no longer trusts himself. He already drove the group apart with the whole let's-beat-a-crippled-and-bound-youth shenanigans. That's some Carver level shit right there. I was ready to shoot him from that moment onwards. Spent the rest of the game begging for a chance to shoot him.

"Can I shoot him now? How about now? Now, while he's not looking? Come on Clem, just shoot him. Ohhh, ohhh, now would be a great time to shoot him. Can I... YES!"

I ended up letting the family in. FIgured ya gotta keep trying, right?

I doubt there will be another season, or at least not another season of Clem. The endings are just too different. They'd have to make one 'canon' or pull some seriously contrived crap at the start to get things onto a single main course.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I thought Season 2 wasn't as good as Season 1. Sure, they pulled it home in the end, but it sort of meandered around before getting there.

I ended up killing Kenny and going off with Jane. For all Kenny's good intentions, he was just done. Hell, if you go with him he even says that he no longer trusts himself. He already drove the group apart with the whole let's-beat-a-crippled-and-bound-youth shenanigans. That's some Carver level shit right there. I was ready to shoot him from that moment onwards. Spent the rest of the game begging for a chance to shoot him.

"Can I shoot him now? How about now? Now, while he's not looking? Come on Clem, just shoot him. Ohhh, ohhh, now would be a great time to shoot him. Can I... YES!"

I ended up letting the family in. FIgured ya gotta keep trying, right?

I doubt there will be another season, or at least not another season of Clem. The endings are just too different. They'd have to make one 'canon' or pull some seriously contrived crap at the start to get things onto a single main course.

Seems simple enough to get the endings back to a similar place, and I can think of two ways to do it off the top of my head.

1. Clementine and AJ/Jane continue going up north and find Wellington after surviving the winter at the store. The store runs out of food during the winter months and they need to keep going somewhere. North seems as good a place as any once the winter ends and it's not snowing anymore. Story picks up in Wellington.

2. Both the store and Wellington get attacked by a horde of zombies that can't be beaten. With both locations destroyed Clementine and AJ/Jane/Kenny proceed to wander. Story pick up on the road with a little dialogue to fill the player on on what happened in Wellington/the store to make them move.

 

[tippy2k2]

I doubt there will be another season, or at least not another season of Clem. The endings are just too different. They'd have to make one 'canon' or pull some seriously contrived crap at the start to get things onto a single main course.

Seems simple enough to get the endings back to a similar place, and I can think of two ways to do it off the top of my head.

1. Clementine and Jane/Kenny continue going up north and find Wellington after surviving the winter at the store. The store runs out of food during the winter months and they need to keep going somewhere. North seems as good a place as any once the winter ends and it's not snowing anymore. Story picks up in Wellington.

2. Both the store and Wellington get attacked by a horde of zombies that can't be beaten. With both locations destroyed Clementine and Jane/Kenny proceed to wander. Story pick up on the road with a little dialogue to fill the player on on what happened in Wellington/the store to make them move.

Except how would they continue the story with your companion being able to be so different? Kenny and Jane are polar opposites in...just about everything really. Especially since Kenny wanted to go North and Jane wanted to go South...

There's only one way I can think that they could do it and I think it would be incredibly cheap and frustrating if they did it...kill them. Have the "Clementine and AJ wandering" be the canon. If you have Kenny/Jane with you at the end of the game, it'll knock them off in the first scene to put everyone on the same level again.

I am very curious to see how (or if; I suppose TellTale could be done but I'd be shocked if they stopped at this point) they will handle it. I really hope they don't just murder whoever you have with you but I'll trust that they know what they're doing...

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I doubt there will be another season, or at least not another season of Clem. The endings are just too different. They'd have to make one 'canon' or pull some seriously contrived crap at the start to get things onto a single main course.

Seems simple enough to get the endings back to a similar place, and I can think of two ways to do it off the top of my head.

1. Clementine and Jane/Kenny continue going up north and find Wellington after surviving the winter at the store. The store runs out of food during the winter months and they need to keep going somewhere. North seems as good a place as any once the winter ends and it's not snowing anymore. Story picks up in Wellington.

2. Both the store and Wellington get attacked by a horde of zombies that can't be beaten. With both locations destroyed Clementine and Jane/Kenny proceed to wander. Story pick up on the road with a little dialogue to fill the player on on what happened in Wellington/the store to make them move.

Except how would they continue the story with your companion being able to be so different? Kenny and Jane are polar opposites in...just about everything really. Especially since Kenny wanted to go North and Jane wanted to go South...

There's only one way I can think that they could do it and I think it would be incredibly cheap and frustrating if they did it...kill them. Have the "Clementine and AJ wandering" be the canon. If you have Kenny/Jane with you at the end of the game, it'll knock them off in the first scene to put everyone on the same level again.

I am very curious to see how (or if; I suppose TellTale could be done but I'd be shocked if they stopped at this point) they will handle it. I really hope they don't just murder whoever you have with you but I'll trust that they know what they're doing...

In the first scene Clementine and company run into Christa who accidentally murders her companion (be it Jane or Kenny). Hey, Kenny grew a beard and got his face fucked up, she might not recognize him.

 

[tippy2k2]

In the first scene Clementine and company run into Christa who accidentally murders her companion (be it Jane or Kenny). Hey, Kenny grew a beard and got his face fucked up, she might not recognize him.

And that's my primary concern with Season 3. I would be really really really bummed if Telltale went Aliens 3 on the bit and just murdered all the people you worked so hard to save in the first game (or two games if you saved Kenny) in the opening scene to put everyone in the same place.

Although I did Google it; Telltale has only said Season 3 will come out next year but has not given any other information besides that.

 

[Elfgore]

I picked the best my favorite ending. After I shot Kenny, I ended up leaving Jane. She forced me to kill a long-time friend and left a small baby alone in a zombie apocalypse, to prove a fucking point. She's left before, she'll leave again. In the long haul, Jane cares about one thing, Jane. I don't doubt for a second she would leave Clementine and A.J. in dire straights to save her skin. I gladly told her to "fuck off" and left with A.J. Clementine stands a better chance that way.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

In the first scene Clementine and company run into Christa who accidentally murders her companion (be it Jane or Kenny). Hey, Kenny grew a beard and got his face fucked up, she might not recognize him.

And that's my primary concern with Season 3. I would be really really really bummed if Telltale went Aliens 3 on the bit and just murdered all the people you worked so hard to save in the first game (or two games if you saved Kenny) in the opening scene to put everyone in the same place.

Season 2 did the same thing. 10 minutes into episode 1 Omid is dead and you're separated from Christa (whose baby died) and chucked into Luke's group.

 

[Mister K]

I picked the best my favorite ending. After I shot Kenny, I ended up leaving Jane. She forced me to kill a long-time friend and left a small baby alone in a zombie apocalypse, to prove a fucking point. She's left before, she'll leave again. In the long haul, Jane cares about one thing, Jane. I don't doubt for a second she would leave Clementine and A.J. in dire straights to save her skin. I gladly told her to "fuck off" and left with A.J. Clementine stands a better chance that way.

I did the same thing. While I did not concider Kenny as anything even close to a friend (i.e. sometimes you need a guy who can just murder people but this need doesn't make you like him), actively breaking persons mind while endangering an infant's life just to prove a point is bonkers.

I mean, I KNEW that there will be time when Kenny had to be put down, I came to peace with that, but Jane, while being useful as a partner, really is unreliable and as soon as she stops liking Clementine she'll betray her and AJ.

And don't tell me that she won't do it because she likes Clem. She loved her sister too.

 

[Callate]

I'm torn. I really like a lot about the series- and The Wolf Among Us, for that matter. And I don't think anyone else is really doing what Telltale is doing with these games, let alone doing it as well. And I'll probably play the next TWD or TWAU, should they materialize; the games have gripped me like few other games have, lately.

But...

At the same time, I'm also starting to feel manipulated, and not just in a "you sure know how to pluck at my heartstrings" kind of way. By a certain point, it feels like all of Clementine's conversation branches should have a "For f@#%'s sake, I'm twelve!" option. I get tired of feeling like I'm being given just enough agency to try to make me feel bad when inevitably bad things happen, even when I see "incoming drama moment" coming a mile away and recognize that there's absolutely no real way around them.

It's a problem that I have to admit I don't see an easy way around. If there's a single "optimal" path, you know someone's going to chart it online, everyone's going to take it, the curtain is well and truly pulled back and much of the magic is gone. Gamers are like that.

But I get to feeling like I'm not trying to avoid zombies, or navigate the minefield of my companions' interpersonal politics, but just to somehow forestall the next inevitable plot beat where suddenly everything goes wrong and it's all my fault, even though it isn't, not remotely.

My Clementine was simultaneously a courageous, kind of badass little girl and a mollifying, forgiving peace-maker and bridge-builder. But she couldn't shoot the threat when it counted, she couldn't say what needed to be said to Bonnie (something along the lines of "stop trying to blame other people for your cowardice and need to believe there's always an easy way out, you jerk")... And she couldn't just say "Hell with this, I'm leaving, good luck, you miserable schmucks" before things came to a head.

I want a "You have a problem with him, you have a problem with her, stop bitching and whining and either work things out between you or one of you leave" option.

As strong as TWD's storytelling is, I'm afraid another iteration on this formula may wear a little thin.

 

[Dragonlayer]

I was probably one of the only people who let Sarah die, but she was a GIGANTIC fuckup who got multiple people killed over her stupidity. I could not leave her in the trailer fast enough. Just felt the need to throw that out there, because every LP I've seen, everyone panders to Sarah and gets really upset when she dies anyway later on.

Anyway, as for the ending, I let Kenny kill Jane. She said not to interfere, so, she got exactly what she was asking for ('I'LL KILL YOU!' 'I KNEW YOU WOULD!')

Kenny was the only person who was always up front with Clementine, actually showed that he cared about her, and I agreed with him most of the time anyway. Jane showed herself to be untrustworthy and overly pragmatic to the point where it looped back around to being harmful. Yeah, Kenny was pissed and lashed out, but that's because everyone felt the need to keep pushing him. They would literally go out of their way to antagonize him. And in most cases, he ended up being right in the end anyway (Like how Arvo was a piece of shit who tried to get them killed, and that the camp in Wellington did exist).

Anyway, I ended up with Clem and AJ in Wellington. Kenny giving up everything for the sake of Clem and AJ after everything that he's been through felt like a satisfying character arc for him, and now Clem is safe where society seems to be rebuilding itself.

Pretty much this.

Although I will acknowledge that if I hadn't had the emotional investment in Kenny from the first season, I almost certainly would have taken a different option.

 

[not_you]

I ended S2 (on my first playthrough) with Jane and AJ at the warehouse... However, I didn't let the family in, because by the end of S2, I felt that Jane was the only one I could trust after having watched Luke drown, the black guy, russian and Bonny shoot me, and then Kenny completely losing his head (I never liked Kenny anyway)

In the end, I hated being betrayed... Hell, I even TRIED to leave with Bonny, Mike (I did remember his name) and the russian kid... only for him to STILL shoot me....

yeah, I couldn't deal with anyone else...
Jane was the only one (besides Luke) who I truly felt had my back the entire time... So, yeah, I went with her, then had the most badass ending comment...
After I'd refused entry to the family at the hardware store, and I told him to leave, the guy asked "What if we're dangerous?"
Clem immediately pulled out her gun, pointed it at him and replied: "What if I am?" (Or "Who says I'm not?")

either way, it was a cheap one-liner, but after the pain of losing Luke and Sarah... I just didn't care...

[On second playthrough I ended up being a lone wanderer.... Although I kinda wished I didn't have to carry the baby]


My one question for TTG is, if they are making S3, they can't just have Clem walk into another group again, as that's what happened here... What could they do that would be different from S2?
Who knows....
Maybe we'll run into Christa...
Although I did hope Lilly was still alive...

 

[Signa]

I regretted it, and it loomed in my mind for days after finishing the second season, but I had to kill Kenny. As far as I'm concerned, he's the reason I got shot, because he kept abusing the Russian kid, even though I was as nice as I could be to him. Maybe the Russian was a piece of shit anyway, I don't know, but he never was given the chance to get over his sister dying before he started getting abused. My history with Kenny was important, but sentimentality in a world of Zombies will get you killed, as I almost was.

I also made as many decisions as I could while in the mindset of Clem. As in, the Clem that I raised in Season 1. Sometimes I'd get wrapped up in the moment though. I still think my Lee would have had Kenny shot in that moment if he was there. Lee never put up with Kenny's shit, but still would support him when he was being rational.

 

[Kyrian007]

I just finished S2 last week, and I wound up alone with AJ wandering. Even Kenny agreed shooting him was the right thing to do, but Jane left a baby in a car...

Whether it's the damage of the "hot car" thing in the summer, or if there happens to be a zombie apocalypse in the winter... you never leave a baby alone in a car. There wasn't any reason for me to trust her at all after that. She really didn't have to lay into Kenny like she did anyway, she easily could have waited for Clem to heal up a little more before bringing things to a boil like she did.

So I took the baby and left. And I actually liked that ending a lot.

 

[RagingTiger]

I ended up with Clem alone with AJ, I wanted Kenny to be there but after shooting him and having a final conversation with him, it just seemed that it was the right way for him to go. In the end he was a tormented soul still haunted by his family's death, losing the woman that gave him comfort and finally having lost the one thing (or at least thinking he did) that was keeping him focused and driven, I felt he really did finally deserve some peace. Then finding out Jane staged the whole thing, pushing an already broken man just to prove a point made it was clear she was always going to have a point to prove, even at the expense of others lives.

I found the choices much harder to make in this season, with season 1 it was Lee, a grow man, already used to tough choices and the others acted like it in the response to those choices. In season 2 it felt like more was on the line in character terms, everyone 2nd guessing Clem's motivations, and giving flak and trying to manipulate her into choices because she's still young and naive.

 

[Batou667]

I stuck with Kenny to the end. The poor old guy is a short fuse, but for all his flaws and anger issues, he was proved correct time and again. Arvo was a treacherous little snake. Jane was unreliable and needlessly divisive. Kenny was also correct about Wellington, and more than proved his usefulness in Carver's compound, fixing the car, and so on. Most of the other characters annoyed me by being whiny, helpless and egocentric. Kenny was deeply flawed, but he got shit done and always prioritised the group, and that's the kind of person you need on your side in a friggin' zombie apocalypse.

I *mostly* didn't intervene in the Kenny and Jane fight - I think at one point I tripped one of them, but in the end I let Kenny stab Jane. Frankly I was hugely pissed at Jane for choosing the worst possible point in time to make her stupid self-fulfilling point, and I was perhaps 1/4 suspicious that she'd either killed AJ or let him die.

Was Sarah saveable? I didn't try. I was honesty sick of her endangering everybody else in the group by that point. When I first met her in S2E1 I assumed she would be a much more manipulative, needy kind of infantilised character, but she ended up being just a useless klutz.

If it was up to me, I'd have headed back to the mountain lodge (with the turbine) after escaping Carver's compound, possibly with a view to sneaking back in force to kill or convert any remaining Carverites, take the ample canned food supplies, and even move in if it was preferable. Pressing on into unknown territory, in winter, with a pregnant woman, was just lunacy.