The Walking Dead Episode 5: No time Left. Your thoughts? [SPOILERS]

[Redd the Sock]

One word: masterpiece.

Spoilers of course follow, but then the thread mentions that.

I think it's a testement to the writing of this game in how so much of it could be seen coming in some way, yet was still done to be such a punch to the balls. I mean, the lead up had some twists, but I ultimately knew Lee would be alone at the Marsh House and with Clem at the end. And be honest, no one, I repeat, no one, should not have seen the final (pre credit) scene coming, yet every decision hurt. Every QTE that doesn't quite make it torturious. Every inch crawled painful. Every word Clem said heartbreaking. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

The only real shocker was the kidnapper's motives, and it was one of the most pleasent surprises in gaming in years. Not some random crazy sadistic pedophile, nor some overly contrived relation of Clem's or guy out to kill Lee for his pre-walker murder, but a (still crazy) guy wanting to take you to task for the parenting choices you've made. His quiet anger was chilling.

Only compaliants amount to a short length and how much heavy lifting Lee seems to be doing shortly after having an arm sawed off. Get Ben to carry the fucking ladder or something.

And as much as we want to talk heartwrenching, let's talk cool. Lee. One arm. One cleaver. Plowing trough dozens of walkers to get to Clem. Sorry commander Sheppard. This is my badass hero moment of 2012.

 

[Dark_Reaction]

This episode felt really rushed... I enjoyed it overall, I suppose, but compared to the other episodes it felt REALLY short and rather sparse in terms of character development.

To be honest, I feel like they could have expanded it a bit by adding more puzzle solving and character development, to the improvement of the overall game. And, as someone said previously, this episode really hammered home that your choices don't really 'matter', aside from slightly differing dialogue.

Spoiler

The entire arm-removal thing was already done back in episode 2, and it didn't really add anything for me in this instance - feel like it would have been much more interesting if Lee managed to survive if you remove the arm, but the linear route the story takes seems to require him to die, which was rather disappointing. Same goes for the inability to save Kenny - even if Ben isn't around to screw things up, he still winds up dying (in a rather goofy act no less).

Game was really going strong up until this episode, and, if I'm truly honest, it felt rather anti-climactic - the reveal of the kidnapper, the group's fate, it all just felt rather lack-luster compared to previous episodes...

Still, a great series, easily the best story-focused game I've seen in quite some time.

 

[Kyr Knightbane]

I´m gonna spoil the fuck outta this episode, so if you don´t want that, don´t look.











It was good.

Notice that I said good. Not great.

Spoiler

The cliffhanger at the end was pretty cheap, and the way they just cut it off when Lee either gets left behind och shot was pretty fucking jarring. The episode also hammers home that your descisions de facto mean absolutely nothing except for diffrent flavor text from a psychopath. It ranges from understandable and acceptable (Chop off your arm? Doesn´t matter, Lee dies anyway. I mean, what did you expect?) to disappointing (You only got one man to come with you? Doesn´t matter, all of them come with you anyway!) to downright fucking rage-inducing (Saved Ben? He dies before doing anything meaningful!)

That being said, it was still and amazing finale, and I really look forward to seeing what direction they decide to go in with season 2.

But I´m also concerned about it. From that cliffhanger, I assume they´re going to keep following Clementine. But that raises a whole lot of potential problems. First off, if they try to replicate the bond that Lee and Clementine had, they cheapen the whole of season 1. But how else are they going to do it? And that´s not a rhetoric question. If you have an idea, please tell me, because I really can not see it being done in any way that´s even close to as meaningful as season 1.

Secondly, if they do decide to leave Clementine, they leave their fans with an unresolved cliffhanger that´s incredibly unsatisfying.

Too me, it just seems like damned if you do, damned if you don´t.

That said, I´m still hyped. Hopefully our choices will matter more in season 2.

When you do spoiler tags, make sure you do it like this

Spoiler: Example

See? Make sure if you put the = sign in you put something after it. I always Preview my messages before i hit submit so the post should have looked like (spoiler=HUGE SPOILERS)"Your text here" followed by (spoiler) With the proper brackets of course [ and ] respectively.

 

[awesomeClaw]

I´m gonna spoil the fuck outta this episode, so if you don´t want that, don´t look.











It was good.

Notice that I said good. Not great.

Spoiler

The cliffhanger at the end was pretty cheap, and the way they just cut it off when Lee either gets left behind och shot was pretty fucking jarring. The episode also hammers home that your descisions de facto mean absolutely nothing except for diffrent flavor text from a psychopath. It ranges from understandable and acceptable (Chop off your arm? Doesn´t matter, Lee dies anyway. I mean, what did you expect?) to disappointing (You only got one man to come with you? Doesn´t matter, all of them come with you anyway!) to downright fucking rage-inducing (Saved Ben? He dies before doing anything meaningful!)

That being said, it was still and amazing finale, and I really look forward to seeing what direction they decide to go in with season 2.

But I´m also concerned about it. From that cliffhanger, I assume they´re going to keep following Clementine. But that raises a whole lot of potential problems. First off, if they try to replicate the bond that Lee and Clementine had, they cheapen the whole of season 1. But how else are they going to do it? And that´s not a rhetoric question. If you have an idea, please tell me, because I really can not see it being done in any way that´s even close to as meaningful as season 1.

Secondly, if they do decide to leave Clementine, they leave their fans with an unresolved cliffhanger that´s incredibly unsatisfying.

Too me, it just seems like damned if you do, damned if you don´t.

That said, I´m still hyped. Hopefully our choices will matter more in season 2.

When you do spoiler tags, make sure you do it like this

Spoiler: Example

See? Make sure if you put the = sign in you put something after it. I always Preview my messages before i hit submit so the post should have looked like (spoiler=HUGE SPOILERS)"Your text here" followed by (spoiler) With the proper brackets of course [ and ] respectively.

Thanks, bro. What did you think of the ending?

 

[Kyr Knightbane]

I´m gonna spoil the fuck outta this episode, so if you don´t want that, don´t look.











It was good.

Notice that I said good. Not great.

Spoiler

The cliffhanger at the end was pretty cheap, and the way they just cut it off when Lee either gets left behind och shot was pretty fucking jarring. The episode also hammers home that your descisions de facto mean absolutely nothing except for diffrent flavor text from a psychopath. It ranges from understandable and acceptable (Chop off your arm? Doesn´t matter, Lee dies anyway. I mean, what did you expect?) to disappointing (You only got one man to come with you? Doesn´t matter, all of them come with you anyway!) to downright fucking rage-inducing (Saved Ben? He dies before doing anything meaningful!)

That being said, it was still and amazing finale, and I really look forward to seeing what direction they decide to go in with season 2.

But I´m also concerned about it. From that cliffhanger, I assume they´re going to keep following Clementine. But that raises a whole lot of potential problems. First off, if they try to replicate the bond that Lee and Clementine had, they cheapen the whole of season 1. But how else are they going to do it? And that´s not a rhetoric question. If you have an idea, please tell me, because I really can not see it being done in any way that´s even close to as meaningful as season 1.

Secondly, if they do decide to leave Clementine, they leave their fans with an unresolved cliffhanger that´s incredibly unsatisfying.

Too me, it just seems like damned if you do, damned if you don´t.

That said, I´m still hyped. Hopefully our choices will matter more in season 2.

When you do spoiler tags, make sure you do it like this

Spoiler: Example

See? Make sure if you put the = sign in you put something after it. I always Preview my messages before i hit submit so the post should have looked like (spoiler=HUGE SPOILERS)"Your text here" followed by (spoiler) With the proper brackets of course [ and ] respectively.

Thanks, bro. What did you think of the ending?

Not having played the game, i don't know what to think. It seems good, and hopefully the publishers can keep it up.

 

[Smertnik]

Great ending, it was a very satisfactory, albeit tragic, conclusion. The episode overall felt a bit too short, though, some parts should have been longer, in my opinion. And the cliffhanger was cheap.

 

[shintakie10]

Keep your hair short was such an odd choice and yet so fittin at the end. I was nearly into tears that whole time, but as soon as I saw that line and heard the delivery and reactions I lost it. Just...so...damn...depressin, and beautiful.

If this doesn't wint GoTY all over the place I will pitch a mother friggin fit.

 

[Reven]

It was good.

Notice that I said good. Not great.

Spoiler: Here´s why

The cliffhanger at the end was pretty cheap, and the way they just cut it off when Lee either gets left behind och shot was pretty fucking jarring. The episode also hammers home that your descisions de facto mean absolutely nothing except for diffrent flavor text from a psychopath. It ranges from understandable and acceptable (Chop off your arm? Doesn´t matter, Lee dies anyway. I mean, what did you expect?) to disappointing (You only got one man to come with you? Doesn´t matter, all of them come with you anyway!) to downright fucking rage-inducing (Saved Ben? He dies before doing anything meaningful!)

That being said, it was still and amazing finale, and I really look forward to seeing what direction they decide to go in with season 2.

But I´m also concerned about it. From that cliffhanger, I assume they´re going to keep following Clementine. But that raises a whole lot of potential problems. First off, if they try to replicate the bond that Lee and Clementine had, they cheapen the whole of season 1. But how else are they going to do it? And that´s not a rhetoric question. If you have an idea, please tell me, because I really can not see it being done in any way that´s even close to as meaningful as season 1.

Secondly, if they do decide to leave Clementine, they leave their fans with an unresolved cliffhanger that´s incredibly unsatisfying.

Too me, it just seems like damned if you do, damned if you don´t.

That said, I´m still hyped. Hopefully our choices will matter more in season 2.

I can't comment on the save files since i've never had any trouble, but i completely disagree with your choices not mattering. I feel that while they don't really affect the overall story arc, looking back, they were never meant to. The consequences from your choices come from your changing relationships with the others. There's no way to know who's going to live and who's going to die (assuming you don't just look up a walk-through or something). This leads to massive impacts and consequences to your choices. If you favor someone and by extension scorn someone else, but the person that you scorn is the one that survives, that's a pretty big consequence, since you pretty much have two less friends.

I feel too many people feel that choices need to impact events in the story, however i feel that in this game is all about people and human nature and so on, and thus the events themselves are nowhere near as important as the changes that the relationships undergo as a result. But that's just my opinion anyways. I do agree that if they try a similar thing with Clem again it will likely cheapen season 1, But i suspect its not going to turn out the way we are predicting it, at least looking at season 1, especially because from episodes 1-3 i would have never called that it would have ended like this.

 

[I Max95]

One thing I'm wondering is...

Spoiler

Is the guy who took Clem the same guy if you didn't steal all the food from the car? What motive does he have if you took the other choice?

Spoiler

yeah it is, it's clear the guy goes crazy, and he starts naming off the bad thigns you did like leaving Clementine at the Saint John farm or taking her with you to Crawford (if you did that) he also brings up how Lee might have exposed her to alot of stuff she didn't to be exposed to, i didn't take the food, he still hated me

 

[awesomeClaw]

It was good.

Notice that I said good. Not great.

Spoiler: Here´s why

The cliffhanger at the end was pretty cheap, and the way they just cut it off when Lee either gets left behind och shot was pretty fucking jarring. The episode also hammers home that your descisions de facto mean absolutely nothing except for diffrent flavor text from a psychopath. It ranges from understandable and acceptable (Chop off your arm? Doesn´t matter, Lee dies anyway. I mean, what did you expect?) to disappointing (You only got one man to come with you? Doesn´t matter, all of them come with you anyway!) to downright fucking rage-inducing (Saved Ben? He dies before doing anything meaningful!)

That being said, it was still and amazing finale, and I really look forward to seeing what direction they decide to go in with season 2.

But I´m also concerned about it. From that cliffhanger, I assume they´re going to keep following Clementine. But that raises a whole lot of potential problems. First off, if they try to replicate the bond that Lee and Clementine had, they cheapen the whole of season 1. But how else are they going to do it? And that´s not a rhetoric question. If you have an idea, please tell me, because I really can not see it being done in any way that´s even close to as meaningful as season 1.

Secondly, if they do decide to leave Clementine, they leave their fans with an unresolved cliffhanger that´s incredibly unsatisfying.

Too me, it just seems like damned if you do, damned if you don´t.

That said, I´m still hyped. Hopefully our choices will matter more in season 2.

I can't comment on the save files since i've never had any trouble, but i completely disagree with your choices not mattering. I feel that while they don't really affect the overall story arc, looking back, they were never meant to. The consequences from your choices come from your changing relationships with the others. There's no way to know who's going to live and who's going to die (assuming you don't just look up a walk-through or something). This leads to massive impacts and consequences to your choices. If you favor someone and by extension scorn someone else, but the person that you scorn is the one that survives, that's a pretty big consequence, since you pretty much have two less friends.

I feel too many people feel that choices need to impact events in the story, however i feel that in this game is all about people and human nature and so on, and thus the events themselves are nowhere near as important as the changes that the relationships undergo as a result. But that's just my opinion anyways. I do agree that if they try a similar thing with Clem again it will likely cheapen season 1, But i suspect its not going to turn out the way we are predicting it, at least looking at season 1, especially because from episodes 1-3 i would have never called that it would have ended like this.

I understand why you feel that way. And true, you can´t expect every choice to make a diffrence. It´s fine if some choices only impact your relationship with others. That´s completely acceptable.

But take for example the arm chopping thing. No matter your opinion, you simply can not deny that that choice wasn´t relationshippy(that´s a word, right?) in nature. I expect choices like that to make SOME kind of diffrence in the end.
Yet none of them did. Not a single one leads to a diffrent outcome in the end. Lee´s dead, Clemetine´s alone, Ben´s dead, Kenny´s MIA and Christa and Omid are presumably alive.

Choices like cutting off you arm, if you take Lilly with you or not, those are the choices you expect matter. And when they don´t, you can´t really blame people for being disappointed.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

I thought it was perfect, definitely the game of the year for me, one of the best stories I have ever experienced in a game. I have to say the ending was very 'The Road' which is definitely a good thing. I'm hoping that the two strangers that spot Clementine after the credits were indeed Omid and Christa and that we will get to play as Clementine in the sequel, or at least have her show up at some point. I respect the cliffhanger they left but it would be nice to see it answered in the sequel.

 

[JerryTerry]

I loved the episode - yet again, Telltale have produced a masterpiece.
However, I felt very disappointed by the ending. Untagged spoilers below (The thread title says "[SPOILERS]", as such, isn't the entire thread already covered by a giant spoiler tag?).
Wall of text incoming:

I thought maybe I'd screwed up somewhat. I've only played once so far - Ben was already dead, I lost kenny down that hole full of zombies, and I told Omid and Christa to meet me by the train. I thought that perhaps if I told O&C to meet me when they get down instead, they'd be there when I left the hotel and things would be different. I thought that maybe if I said "nah, we don't need the walkie talkie", Kenny might survive. Hell, I thought that maybe the presence of Ben or Lilly (I left her, but wasn't sure if she could actually stay in the party like Ben. I guess it was just another fake choice) could radically change everything. I was hoping to test the infinite possibilites tonight, and read this thread hoping for some sort of confirmation. I got the opposite. It would seem my choices mean nothing.

Several times throughout every episode, I've been presented with choices that ultimately don't matter. I constantly thought that maybe it was because they had to think about the future episodes, and couldn't have it going off on too many different tangents.
But it was the finale. If ever there was a chance to make your choices actually have any impact, it was now.
Every choice you make leads to the same ending, right? Nobody has yet to be met with anything other than "Everyone except Omid and Christa are dead/missing, you die, clementine spots two people in the distance"?

The only real difference the choices make seem to be dialog (then again, I have yet to see what goes on between Kenny and Ben). That's all great, but it all feels pretty hollow now. I was planning on playing through the whole thing again as a bad guy/complete dick. But now I know that everything will be exactly the same. Almost every single choice you make isn't actually a choice. Even the choice to save Carly or Doug still ends with them dying without a possibility to save them. It would've been forgiveable if it all made a big difference to the ending, but it didn't.

Loved the journey, but was greatly disappointed by the destination (and the fact that all of my journeys will be identical). I know that Telltale isn't really a AAA studio, and making all of your choices massively matter would've been far too high an expectation, but I really feel that they could've done more. I hapilly would've waited much longer (hell, I would've happily waited years) for something where your choices actually matter, and not something that just says your choices matter.

That being said, I cannot wait for season two. It may just be a linear game masquerading as an open-ended one, but even as a linear game it's still a bloody masterpiece.

 

[chrisassassin]

This definitely was among the best game stories this year. Kenny's end especially if he tries to save Ben felt like a really fitting end to a character I both liked and hated. For some reason I draw a parallel with Spec Ops: The Line's story, maybe because there is no real happy ending, only that the characters survive physically if not emotionally.

 

[EeveeElectro]

I have to wonder (can't be bothered spoiling it) what are people saying about Kenny and Ben? I dropped Ben (couldn't drop him fast enough!) so he wasn't in my episode 5. My Kenny jumped down into a room to save Christa and got killed by walkers. (I think?)

Spoiler

I loved the chapter. I loved the whole game, I hope it wins some awards at Spike VGAs. Kinda wish I didn't cut Lees arm off because I knew he was gonna die, I think having one arm might have made things harder.
I was okay until the last ten minutes or so, when Clem put her little hand in Lees and he held it, I think I actually sprung a leak. I brought a Krispy Kreme doughnut home because I knew I'd have to have something sweet to stuff into my mouth while I cried uncontrollably afterwards.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

That aside, the ending was pretty tear jerking. A great story was told here, I just wish I could've made it my story rather than just piggy backing along for the ride.

I feel like it was my story, insomuch as the relationships I formed and the character of Lee were informed by my decisions. I guess it depends on whether or not you felt Walking Dead was a game about events, or a game about relationships.

 

[dementis]

I can't even claim manly tears,

Spoiler

I started welling up when Kenny jumped down to save Christa. After Clem sees her parents I thought the game was showing Lee's vision blurring until I realised they were my tears. The dam broke when Clem is trying to help you walk and by the time you're saying goodbye I was full on sobbing into my keyboard.

 

[GiantRaven]

Oh yeah, and spoiler alert for Season 2:

Spoiler

Kenney's alive. You notice how hard they tried to get him "off the screen" in BOTH possible death sequences (alleyway + hole in building). There is literally no reason they would not show his death sequence and have him "killed" off screen.

Spoiler

Kenny should be the protagonist of the second season and each different dialogue choice merely amounts to differing ways to be an abrasive asshole to everyone.

I would play the shit out of that.