The Walking Dead: Episode 3 Long Road Ahead

[Lil_Rimmy]

The Walking Dead JUST came out and I JUST finished it and it was amazing. It was worth the wait, but as always, I wish it was longer. Let's just say that this was a VERY heavy/dark episode. Anyway, onto the discussion part of this thread.

So! If you have played it yet, or if you have seen it, well, what did you think? I personally loved it and I hope they make more. However, the way they rushed it shows. A lot of the actions/scenes are a little weird (like Lee struggling with something then it cuts suddenly with it in his pocket, or his hand/body going through doors/handles) compared to the first episode, but it had a lot of time to be made.

Anyway Escapist, what do you think?

MAJOR SPOILERS: I MEAN MEGA MAJOR YOU WILL DIE IF YOU READ THEM SPOILERS

Spoiler

WHHHHHHY? They killed Carley! Argh! She was my favourite, and she was just starting to be a love interest as well. I can't believe it though, they killed off FOUR characters in one episode and introduced 3 more. However, Christa and Omid seem like the new Doug and Carley.

Also, Clem is turning into a badass, with the team thing and the guns. However... that dude on the radio... Wow...

 

[shado_temple]

Kind of surprised that I had to dig to find a topic relating to it. The episodes just keep getting better, though this one was certainly the most depressing. I don't want to spoil anything, but telltale has certainly picked up the idea from the comic series that

Spoiler

no character, no matter how beloved/hated, is ever safe.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Spoiler: Thoughts inside

Holy shit that episode was literally painful to get through. And that's not a bad thing at all, it just shows how amazing Telltale's writers are that I care about the characters so much that an episode like this just takes the life out of me. So many damn people died or left! Duck, Katja, Doug or Carley and Lilly all going was terrible. It was the worst episode in a very good way, and this game is shaping up to be my GOTY. But seriously, if they do anything to Clementine then I don't know what I'm gonna do.

 

[woodaba]

That was....

Spoiler

horrendous. Painful. Miserable. But amazing. I've never felt this way about a game since Silent Hill 2, where it's great, but painful to play. They've really nailed the "anyone can die" spirit of the books, and it's still miles better than the TV show. Up until this point I was trying to do the good thing, keep everyone safe, don't get involved in Kenny and Lily's spats. But when she shot Carley...something inside me just...snapped. And after that, it just got worse and worse. And these episodes are getting better and better.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

Spoiler: Thoughts inside

Holy shit that episode was literally painful to get through. And that's not a bad thing at all, it just shows how amazing Telltale's writers are that I care about the characters so much that an episode like this just takes the life out of me. So many damn people died or left! Duck, Katja, Doug or Carley and Lilly all going was terrible. It was the worst episode in a very good way, and this game is shaping up to be my GOTY. But seriously, if they do anything to Clementine then I don't know what I'm gonna do.

Yeah... I mean:

Spoiler

Clem has had a really great arch, about her maturing in the new world. But still, I mean, hell, I feel a need to protect her, she has grown on me even after the first episode. If they were to kill her.... RAGH.

 

[Rose and Thorn]

I watched someone play the first episode for a bit to check how if I would like the game. I really liked how story driven it is and choices you make really seem to effect future episodes. But seeing as how they are so short, albeit not super short, but short enough that you could probably beat an episode in one sit down, wouldn't it make more sense to wait for all the episodes *I think 5?* to come out.

I think I will get a better experience from the game if I wait it out and wait for all 5 to release. I am really liking the positive feedback from the game though and I am looking forward to playing it. Good thing I am a patient fleshy being.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

I watched someone play the first episode for a bit to check how if I would like the game. I really liked how story driven it is and choices you make really seem to effect future episodes. But seeing as how they are so short, albeit not super short, but short enough that you could probably beat an episode in one sit down, wouldn't it make more sense to wait for all the episodes *I think 5?* to come out.

I think I will get a better experience from the game if I wait it out and wait for all 5 to release. I am really liking the positive feedback from the game though and I am looking forward to playing it. Good thing I am a patient fleshy being.

Believe me, you will hate yourself for the wait. I loved it, even though the episodes are short. Well, 3 is actually pretty long. Anyway, believe me, you would prefer to pick it up now, because you will have a LOT of fun with it. Episode 5 will probably be a while. If you follow the trend of about 2 months per update... December. Yup. Believe me, you won't wanna wait until December.

 

[Dragoon]

Here's my thoughts

Spoiler

I really liked the subtlety of this episode such as hinting that Ben was the one who stole the supplies throughout through body language and how he responded to things and how Carley glanced at Lee behind his back when Lilly said he wouldn't know about murdering someone.

The amount of deaths in this episode was crazy though. Carleys death was completely out of the blue and really shocked me and made me absolutely hate Lilly, just how Lee must have felt, and I don't regret leaving her behind. As soon as I saw Duck was bitten I knew it was over for him but the way they did Katjaa and Kennys denial was really good and Katjaas suicide was really surprising, I like how they foreshadowed it with the whole disagreement with guns thing.

Kenny's depression was good too, they really made him seem like a man who has lost everything.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

Dear, again in the http://www.mmolive.com/ valentine's day. I don't know how many of you have me to your chocolate, but I see clearly... http://www.mmohome.com/
!This year I can send--to reduce weight tea?

LE SPAM BOTTE STRIKES AGAIN!

 

[veloper]

I'm becoming a little disappointed with the walking dead game.

With Carley or Doug dead before EP4, all past choices have the same outcome again.
Saving either Carly or Doug was the only thing sofar that gave the game some replayability.

The puzzles are very simple and without a solid gameplay feature, TWD basicly amounts to a machinima.
C&C was supposed to be the main feature here, but it find it to be even more superficial than I expected it to be.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

I'm becoming a little disappointed with the walking dead game.

With Carley or Doug dead before EP4, all past choices have the same outcome again.
Saving either Carly or Doug was the only thing sofar that gave the game some replayability.

The puzzles are very simple and without a solid gameplay feature, TWD basicly amounts to a machinima.
C&C was supposed to be the main feature here, but it find it to be even more superficial than I expected it to be.

Well that's the thing... it's a Telltale Game. The story is the biggest thing, the amazing thing, and then there is the gameplay which I normally love but I agree, can be lacklustre in some parts. The thing is though, in Sam and Max, they could have you roam the city, pick up items, combine them, talk to people, work out really weird machines ect... but this is the Zombie Apocalypse... There really isn't that many puzzles, you don't have to work out how to put an axe in a zombies head, so I am glad that they managed to squeeze a few in. Like, you can't exactly have Lee adventure around the whole city searching for a red blue and green wire then going back to a machine and repairing it then running the circuits through. It has to stay in some kinda boundary.

 

[veloper]

I'm becoming a little disappointed with the walking dead game.

With Carley or Doug dead before EP4, all past choices have the same outcome again.
Saving either Carly or Doug was the only thing sofar that gave the game some replayability.

The puzzles are very simple and without a solid gameplay feature, TWD basicly amounts to a machinima.
C&C was supposed to be the main feature here, but it find it to be even more superficial than I expected it to be.

Well that's the thing... it's a Telltale Game. The story is the biggest thing, the amazing thing, and then there is the gameplay which I normally love but I agree, can be lacklustre in some parts. The thing is though, in Sam and Max, they could have you roam the city, pick up items, combine them, talk to people, work out really weird machines ect... but this is the Zombie Apocalypse... There really isn't that many puzzles, you don't have to work out how to put an axe in a zombies head, so I am glad that they managed to squeeze a few in. Like, you can't exactly have Lee adventure around the whole city searching for a red blue and green wire then going back to a machine and repairing it then running the circuits through. It has to stay in some kinda boundary.

What I would like for TWD episodes 4 and 5 is that the remaining NPCs may live or die by player choice and mistake opposed to a script.
What would fix the game for is a final outcome that changes dramaticly, because of those early choices and mistakes made in 4. So not some 3-ending button at the very end ala ME or DX. Complete vindication of Telltales if they somehow still manage to smoothly weave some choices from ep.1 and 2 into consequences for ep.5.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

What I would like for TWD episodes 4 and 5 is that the remaining NPCs may live or die by player choice and mistake opposed to a script.
What would fix the game for is a final outcome that changes dramaticly, because of those early choices and mistakes made in 4. So not some 3-ending button at the very end ala ME or DX. Complete vindication of Telltales if they somehow still manage to smoothly weave some choices from ep.1 and 2 into consequences for ep.5.

Well, you see, the problem with that is that is not what the Walking Dead is about. The game doesn't say "Option 1 or 2" with one of them saving people and the other killing them. A few reasons why:

1. Every experience would be the same. It wouldn't be that hard to figure out what would kill them and what wouldn't. And when people did, they would all end up with the same thing. Why replay when you know that the people will just die? I loved talking with a friend about who we saved/helped, who we fought with and who we talked with. Imagine that... now imagine this:

"I saved her."
"Same."
"I saved him"
"Same."
"I killed the bandit."
"Same."

Hardly anywhere near as interesting, is it? It's meant to be a CHOICE, not a QUESTION. The difference is, one has good/bad either way and the other is just a good or bad.

2. Makes the stories a lot harder to write. If the player screws up and kills a bunch of them off before the end, well... who's gonna continue the story?

3. The Walking Dead is about difficult, in the heat of the moment choice. Like, OMG OMG SHES GETTING GRABBED HE HAS FALLEN WE ARE FREAKING OUT CHOOSE CHOOSE. You know that either way something good/bad will happen, and YOU have to weigh it up, YOU have to deal with it. But the thing is that it is usually happening so quick you act and then regret it. THAT is the best part, a game making you go "Ah! Damn... why did I do that?"

 

[Joseph Harrison]

I'm becoming a little disappointed with the walking dead game.

With Carley or Doug dead before EP4, all past choices have the same outcome again.
Saving either Carly or Doug was the only thing sofar that gave the game some replayability.

The puzzles are very simple and without a solid gameplay feature, TWD basicly amounts to a machinima.
C&C was supposed to be the main feature here, but it find it to be even more superficial than I expected it to be.

Although I disagree with your statements that it has no replayability, I do agree that they are making it so most of your choices don't matter. Whether you picked Doug or Carley, Sided with LIly or Kenny in their disputes as of episode three everything is in the same place. It was kinda annoying in this episode because after Lily killed Carley I was like "Oh Yeah she can't live because they don't want to have to write extra stuff for people who picked Doug"

Despite this the game is still reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally good and considering the price which I picked it up during the Steam sale, is totally worth it.

 

[OniaPL]

Spoiler

Really surprised that Carly just... died.

Also, Zombie Clem freaked me out

The writing was good and I definitely enjoyed every second. It's quickly shaping up to be GotY material.

 

[veloper]

What I would like for TWD episodes 4 and 5 is that the remaining NPCs may live or die by player choice and mistake opposed to a script.
What would fix the game for is a final outcome that changes dramaticly, because of those early choices and mistakes made in 4. So not some 3-ending button at the very end ala ME or DX. Complete vindication of Telltales if they somehow still manage to smoothly weave some choices from ep.1 and 2 into consequences for ep.5.

Well, you see, the problem with that is that is not what the Walking Dead is about. The game doesn't say "Option 1 or 2" with one of them saving people and the other killing them. A few reasons why:

1. Every experience would be the same. It wouldn't be that hard to figure out what would kill them and what wouldn't. And when people did, they would all end up with the same thing. Why replay when you know that the people will just die? I loved talking with a friend about who we saved/helped, who we fought with and who we talked with. Imagine that... now imagine this:

"I saved her."
"Same."
"I saved him"
"Same."
"I killed the bandit."
"Same."

Hardly anywhere near as interesting, is it? It's meant to be a CHOICE, not a QUESTION. The difference is, one has good/bad either way and the other is just a good or bad.

2. Makes the stories a lot harder to write. If the player screws up and kills a bunch of them off before the end, well... who's gonna continue the story?

3. The Walking Dead is about difficult, in the heat of the moment choice. Like, OMG OMG SHES GETTING GRABBED HE HAS FALLEN WE ARE FREAKING OUT CHOOSE CHOOSE. You know that either way something good/bad will happen, and YOU have to weigh it up, YOU have to deal with it. But the thing is that it is usually happening so quick you act and then regret it. THAT is the best part, a game making you go "Ah! Damn... why did I do that?"

I do not doubt that doing proper C&C would be harder to write (not to mention to code and to direct), but I disagree about taking consequences away being a good thing.

All players would NOT want to save all NPCs.
The choice with Lilly shows that roughly half of the players wanted to abandon her to the zombies. It's just too bad for the other half that their choice to keep Lilly on board didn't actually register beyond the superficial.

Keep the story interesting enough and I'll wager plenty of players would want to continue on with their game even after making mistakes and losing valued companions, just to see what would happen next.