Telltale Announces Three New Games, Including a Wolf Among Us Sequel

[Johnny Novgorod]

My choices from seasons 1 and 2 didn't even affect the sequels

Yeah, you do kinda notice that with TellTale games. The second a character's fate becomes determinate, their impact on the story becomes null, and they are doomed to die from that point on, so that the game can revert to one standard path for everybody to go down, with as few variables as possible, so that the choices and consequences are always the same. I like to call it the illusion of choice.

Take the conclusion of Season 2, for example:
1a - Clementine kills Kenny and stays with Jane and AJ. They let the strangers into the warehouse
1b - Clementine kills Kenny and stays with Jane and AJ. They do not let the strangers into the warehouse.
2a - Clementine lets Kenny kill Jane. Clementine and Kenny stick together with AJ.
2b - Clementine lets Kenny kill Jane. Clementine leaves Kenny and goes to Wellington with AJ.
3 - Clementine leaves Kenny/Jane. Goes off on her own with AJ.

Then Season 3 starts, and because TellTale have written themselves into a hole, and they don't want to develop so much content that only a small percentage of the playerbase will experience, they have to wipe the slate clean, and kill everybody off. This means that ultimately, the ending choice of Season 2 is pointless, because Clementine ends up in the same spot regardless.

The same can be seen with a bunch of other characters throughout the series, like with Ben in Season 1, who you can let die in episode 4, but if you save him, he dies in episode 5 anyway. Nick from season 2, who you can save in episode 2, but will die in episode 4 anyway. The entire case of 400 Days - excluding Bonie - who's role in season 2 is reduced to nothing more than a short cameo in episode 3, only to never be seen again. Or Conrad in Season 3, who you can choose not to shoot in episode 2, but will die in episode 5.

The illusion of choOOoOOOoOOoice.

But seriously, though, I am surprised that TellTale don't usually get a pretty bad rap for this.

I guess most people will only play the game once, so that they won't notice how similarly the stories play out regardless of choice, and that the games come out far enough between each other that people either don't notice or don't care how choice doesn't matter in the long run. In any case I think the first game had a decent story going on, even if it was just that.

 

[Catfood220]

Cool to see them doing some non-TWD sequels finally. Fingers crossed for Tales from the Boderlands season 2.

Shame there's no news about expanding on Tales from the Borderlands. Their best series by far IMO

I recently played Tales from the Borderlands because it was free on PS+ and ended up loving it so I was hoping for another one. But apparently the next Borderlands game will be coming from Gearbox/2K, I'm assuming as part of the main games. Why the 2 can't run side by side I don't know but that is what one of guys from Tell Tale said.

 

[Zhukov]

But seriously, though, I am surprised that TellTale don't usually get a pretty bad rap for this.

You mean for the thing that gets brought up basically every single time they're mentioned?

I think at this point people have just decided whether or not they care. Some people insist that every choice must have profound result in profound branching outcomes from here until the end of time and have thus given up on Telltale. Others know what they're in for and enjoy it.

I fall into the latter camp. Choice in Telltale games is like choosing the flavour of topping on your desert. It doesn't fundamentally change the nature of the dish but it has enough effect for me to care and so long as the dessert is good then I'm not fussed.

When it comes to writing quality, if I may switch awkwardly switch metaphors, Telltale are building houses while 99% of developers are struggling to erect a fucking tent.

Frankly a lot people have laughably unrealistic expectations when it comes to what's both doable and worth doing when it comes to narrative choice in games, especially for a developer the size of Telltale.