Starker on 7/11/2015 at 16:45
I think that the second season was more true to the source material, especially with the idea that kids need to grow up ASAP in an environment like this and the appearance of Carver as a Negan type of character.
This time I felt that humans were clearly emphasised to be the bigger threat. In season 1, aside from the occasional bandit, cannibal and psychopath, a lot of the time things were ruined by zombies, not people. In season 2, zombies were more of a background noise and it felt much better.
I liked that Clementine got hurt this time. One thing that I like about TWD is that absolutely nobody is safe or untouchable and Clementine making it through season 1 essentially unharmed felt like a betrayal of that idea.
The return of Kenny I didn't much care for. I didn't find him a good character to either hate or like. The cameo of Lee was great though.
henke on 7/11/2015 at 17:02
S2 was one of the PS+ games this month, so I played S2E1 yesterday. I liked it! Was surprised to see Idle Thumbs podcaster Nick Breckon as the writer in the credits. I'm a fan of the guy from his podcasting but somehow I had no idea what his day job actually was. :p
Sulphur on 10/11/2015 at 04:07
In my opinion, S2 suffered from a conflict of 'what the fuck do we do with this story now?'. I always thought setting the follow-up as a Clementine-led story would be problematic, and it is.
First up, the new set of survivors is mostly a bunch of unlikeable assholes. Not terribly different from the last time, but Lee was the glue that bound them together. This time, Clem is, of course, just a little girl, so she has very little sway over these jerk-offs. And even the one person she should have some influence over is still an unhinged man-baboon who repeatedly loses everyone he loves, gets the shit kicked out of him, and then decides to snap and kill someone because GOD DAMN IT YOU LOST A BABY YOU @!$%^!!. (Do not read that spoiler if you haven't finished the season.)
Secondly, the survivors seem to be unable to do anything without asking Clem to help out, and she ends up doing all the dangerous bullshit. Why? Because you're the player character, and it'd be really boring if everyone said 'you're a girl, go sit down while the adults figure this out.' The dissonance is pretty jarring.
Third, the game hits a high point in the middle of the season, after which it's not quite sure of what to do with itself, so it stumbles along in raggedy steps towards the finish line. The ending was slightly weird, a little sad, and a lot, 'this doesn't really fit in with my perception of this character'. Sure, they tried to chart the path of what led to it, but they weren't very successful with the entire final sequence of events that finally breaks him.
It's still a decent effort, so it's never bad. Just conflicted and not entirely sure of itself. That should be a fine metaphor if you're a little girl in a world gone insane, but this is a game where the little girl is the most level-headed character amongst them all.
It's a shame the original writers didn't have a hand in it. I'll look to Firewatch to see if they bring their spark to it. (Yes, I did just do that.)
poroshin on 17/1/2016 at 13:40
Any idea when S3 might be coming?
nicked on 18/1/2016 at 07:13
I'm playing it on PSN, and I've got to disagree about making Clementine the protagonist - I think it's a great choice, because it makes the player/character dissonance into a story-telling point. You're playing a little girl, but the person playing the game is most likely an experienced gamer and an adult. So by the very act of an adult "brain" controlling a child, they've made a statement about how kids have to grow up quickly in this fucked up world. Maybe it wasn't intentional and I'm reading too much into it, but that's how I'm playing it, and suddenly all the ruthless, un-child-like stuff I'm doing becomes powerful drama rather than cognitive dissonance.
Sulphur on 2/6/2017 at 08:57
Sure, this thread is as old as Lazarus, though unlike him maybe there's a limb or two popped a joint and dropped off, but like its namesake it's gotta keep going on.
I'll keep this short. Season 3 (A New Frontier) is mediocre, tepid, filled with schizophrenic characterisation, reuses situations with abandon (getting locked up in a warehouse/room/whatever is a recurring theme), and carries none of the emotional weight it needs to hit its narrative with. The attempt to make it a conflicted family drama rings hollow. Its mistakes are legion; but none so bad as not knowing what the fuck to do with Clementine as a person. Season 2 had some decent bits but in the end the series should have ended with her fate left unknown in S1, because that'd be far more poetic an end than the ongoing dour soap opera people keep dragging her into.
This probably cements my position as resident cynic, but as I told dethtoll, the worst insult at the end of this is the promise that there'll be more of it.
I've complained about the keyframed animations before, and ironically as the graphics get better, this stands out more and more. The same gawpy expressions and eyebrow arches that take a full second to complete, mannequin head shakes, and slow googly eyes remain almost unchanged from 5 years ago, and have no business being this exaggerated in a serious character drama that no longer evokes a comic book aesthetic. I know mocap and facial capture is expensive, but it's time they tried something different at the very least. The same goes for their Batman adaptation, which is also ultimately a disappointment despite having two (maybe three) interesting twists of narrative.
Thirith on 2/6/2017 at 09:18
Yeah, I think I'll sit this one out, unless I have a weak moment once it's come down in price. I thought that S2, while flawed, still was worth playing, but the whole zombie apocalypse trope lends itself to diminished returns, because they're basically rehashing 2-3 story templates.
Also, I'm definitely tired of the bad (facial) animation in Telltale's games. The writing is usually okay and has some complexity, but the facial expressions are as subtle and believable as Victorian melodrama. The games would almost work better as radio plays, because Telltale simply isn't very good at visuals, and the facial animations are by far the worst part because they hurt the characterisation. I wasn't a big fan of Life is Strange, but it's so much better in this respect it's not funny.
N'Al on 13/12/2017 at 15:03
Seeing as I don't think this deserves its own thread (yet), ima just leave this here:
[video=youtube;non_0jlOXew]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=non_0jlOXew[/video]
twisty on 15/12/2017 at 14:17
Hmnnnn....what's the story they're trying to get across? Can't see that the franchise has enough legs left to engender interest just off brand alone.
