The Walking Dead: Episode 3 Long Road Ahead

[Lil_Rimmy]

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.

You would actually be surprised... wait... spoiler tags:

Spoiler

I was MAD when Lilly shot Carley, as in I went and shouted "WHAT?!??" at my screen. I instantly changed from the normal nice Lee trying to calm everyone I was playing to a fucking pissed off Lee. He screamed at her then left her to die.

But... I actually felt... well... not bad, but just weird, like wondering if I should have taken her with me. I kept saying "No! She shot Carley!" and so on. But think about it. If you kept Lilly on board, many people would want to kill her, she would try to escape, she might try to kill Ben ect. It kinda makes sense that she broke free and ran, because she didn't want to face you. Besides, I am pretty sure most players knew that she wasn't going to rejoin the group/she would be killed or thrown out or whatever.

And remember, I am personally a games programmer, and I can tell you to put in something as simple as Lilly staying with the group, let alone EVERY character, well, you can kiss your episodes good bye because they are going to be taking a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT longer than two months. Maybe 5 or more? It would be a HUGE task to put it all in.

 

[Jorec]

Christ this fucking episode. Talk about depressing. I mean it was a great episode but, goddamn. I really don't know how they're gonna top themselves.

Poor Duck. Best Robin ever.

 

[Korten12]

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.

You would actually be surprised... wait... spoiler tags:

Spoiler

I was MAD when Lilly shot Carley, as in I went and shouted "WHAT?!??" at my screen. I instantly changed from the normal nice Lee trying to calm everyone I was playing to a fucking pissed off Lee. He screamed at her then left her to die.

But... I actually felt... well... not bad, but just weird, like wondering if I should have taken her with me. I kept saying "No! She shot Carley!" and so on. But think about it. If you kept Lilly on board, many people would want to kill her, she would try to escape, she might try to kill Ben ect. It kinda makes sense that she broke free and ran, because she didn't want to face you. Besides, I am pretty sure most players knew that she wasn't going to rejoin the group/she would be killed or thrown out or whatever.

And remember, I am personally a games programmer, and I can tell you to put in something as simple as Lilly staying with the group, let alone EVERY character, well, you can kiss your episodes good bye because they are going to be taking a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT longer than two months. Maybe 5 or more? It would be a HUGE task to put it all in.

Well in the case of...

Spoiler

Lilly, it would cause a MAJOR plot hole if she did stay with the group. This is because the game is canon with the comic storyline and Lilly appears in the comic.

 

[Zenn3k]

My jaw literally dropped with Lily shot Carly. I couldn't believe it.

The game did an excellent job of hiding the fact it was coming too, with not one, but TWO "Carly will remember that"'s just before it happened.

Totally caught me off guard, and that means this game has some of the best writers around.

Love this series.

 

[KhaoticOne]

For a first-run its great. However like previous episodes sometimes its too apparent when the game shows you your decisions are moot. The same event occurs in virtually the same way save for some different face values which ultimately doesn't change much (if any). While i know its partly due to the constraint of making a game in general (time,money,etc.) i wished they hid this fact a little better.

Despite this i found the series and this episode to be very engaging, despite some of the actions you do (gathering the supplies) ultimately becomes pointless.


Its a bit nitpicking but i feel that the characters in this series can really be too judgmental at times. Its grating and seems to encourage Forced Conflicts. They really should be more focused on survival/future than trivial crap sometimes.

 

[Mike Laserbeam]

Well in the case of...

Spoiler

Lilly, it would cause a MAJOR plot hole if she did stay with the group. This is because the game is canon with the comic storyline and Lilly appears in the comic.

Spoiler

THAT'S LILLY?! Wow! I literally hadn't made that connection! She seemed like such a minor character in the comic (despite what she did, which was HARDLY minor) it hadn't even occurred to me until now!
I'm glad, because had I known that my opinion of her in the game would have been drastically different

OT:

I preferred episode 2 far more, but 3 was interesting.
Although episode 2 seemed like something recycled from the comics, it was just fantastic. I didn't think 3 could stand up to it, and IMO it didn't.

 

[RhetoricalFish]

Spoiler: Already played the first three episodes? Lucky you!

It's been a long time since a game would literally have me scream HOLY SHIT! WHAT?! NO! at the screen. The scene that led up to Doug's death (or Carley's respectively) was perfectly executed.

Overall, the episode had some really great pacing and is probably my favourite yet. The gut punches came in a more subtle way to hit me much harder. Although I'd say Ep. 2 comes pretty close, especially with the leg-chopping scene, but personally I'm not a great fan of the jack-in-the-box twists.
I admit the game is not perfect, it does have its flaws, but for me they get completely overshadowed by its brillant writing.

I thought I was long sick of zombies but this proved me wrong in the best way possible. I'm glad I gave it a shot back when it was on Steam's summer sale, although I could never warm up to the TV series.
If the last two episodes are able to continue at this level of quality, this is going to be a strong contender for my personal game of the year.

Also, fuck you for making me aim at Duck's head... dammit.

 

[Sight Unseen]

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.

I think the whole point of this is Telltale saying that sometimes, no matter how much you want them to, sometimes your choices just don't matter. These other people in your group are their own people and they have their own agendas and will sometimes do what they want to even if you don't want them to. You can't control them. You also can't control the whims of the zombies or the bandits and sometimes despite your best intentions, even the "good" choice can end up with the same outcome as the "bad" choice.

The difference in this game, from what I see is that what choices you make DO make a HUGE difference in how you feel about what happens and about how the other characters feel about what happened. I've had moments where I've genuinely regretted a choice I just made because I thought I made the wrong one. And I've felt and experienced disappointment and anger at me from many sides depending on whose side I took or didn't take.

So even if the ultimate outcome doesnt change, you choices DO matter and they can sometimes create VERY significantly different dialog options and attitudes from your group

OT:

Spoiler

I nearly cried after I shot Duck for Kenny. Seeing Kenny's face full of tears and the whole emotion of the moment nearly made me lose it.

Unless Assassin's Creed 3 is absolutely stellar I think this will be my GOTY. I just hope Telltale gets episode 4 out sooner or at least communicates it tonight.

 

[Bagged Milk]

Spoiler: Already played the first three episodes? Lucky you!

It's been a long time since a game would literally have me scream HOLY SHIT! WHAT?! NO! at the screen. The scene that led up to Doug's death (or Carley's respectively) was perfectly executed.

Overall, the episode had some really great pacing and is probably my favourite yet. The gut punches came in a more subtle way to hit me much harder. Although I'd say Ep. 2 comes pretty close, especially with the leg-chopping scene, but personally I'm not a great fan of the jack-in-the-box twists.
I admit the game is not perfect, it does have its flaws, but for me they get completely overshadowed by its brillant writing.

I thought I was long sick of zombies but this proved me wrong in the best way possible. I'm glad I gave it a shot back when it was on Steam's summer sale, although I could never warm up to the TV series.
If the last two episodes are able to continue at this level of quality, this is going to be a strong contender for my personal game of the year.

Also, fuck you for making me aim at Duck's head... dammit.

I was also pretty sick of zombies, but they focus more on the relationships between people more than the walkers. Your biggest threat isn't the walkers, it's your friends.

Spoiler

also yeah, as soon as I said that I'd shoot Duck myself I immediately thought "crap crap crap, don't give me control, please don't give me control" and then it gave me control.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

When Lilly did what she did (not gonna spoil)my jaw literally dropped,I said "What? no effing way..." and I exited the game and did that all over again thinking I did something wrong about that particular scene.

Overall it was an awesome episode,looking forward to the next one.

PS: Too bad all the list of my favorite characters have been reduced to 2.

 

[Korten12]

Well in the case of...

Spoiler

Lilly, it would cause a MAJOR plot hole if she did stay with the group. This is because the game is canon with the comic storyline and Lilly appears in the comic.

Spoiler

THAT'S LILLY?! Wow! I literally hadn't made that connection! She seemed like such a minor character in the comic (despite what she did, which was HARDLY minor) it hadn't even occurred to me until now!
I'm glad, because had I known that my opinion of her in the game would have been drastically different

OT:

I preferred episode 2 far more, but 3 was interesting.
Although episode 2 seemed like something recycled from the comics, it was just fantastic. I didn't think 3 could stand up to it, and IMO it didn't.

Spoiler

Yeah once I realized that it was the very same, I just didn't want to trust her anymore since I knew what she would eventually do. D:

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

Spoiler

also yeah, as soon as I said that I'd shoot Duck myself I immediately thought "crap crap crap, don't give me control, please don't give me control" and then it gave me control.

Yeah, I was like...:

Spoiler

Poor Kenny... ah mate, I feel for you... here, I'll shoot Duck. I thought it would zoom out to a big wide view of the forest, with a single gunshot, instead it put the gun in my hand and said "Shoot him. Shoot the kid. Shoot Duck."

Fuck you Telltale, you made me feel like a dirty asshole. And that's why I love your games.

 

[Bagged Milk]

i will say this is the first zombie game to actualy understand that the real threat isnt the zombies, thse are an environmental hazard of that world but the real threat comes from other humans and interacting with them.

im hating and loving the fact it doesnt matter what you choose, it doesnt matter how good you do in the end shitty things happen and you cant save everyone.

see bioware, you can have bad endings where character you like die and you screw up.. its powerful when done properly

but it does matter what you choose.

Spoiler

if you chose to save Carly, do you still get the whole laser pointer scene like if you chose to save Doug? If you keep Lily with you, do you still get the whole scene where she drives off with your van? If you choose to leave the teacher guy behind in the bear trap, do you still get the whole scene where he turns and you have to deal with him? Sure no matter what you choose you get to the same destination, but it's how you get there that changes, and I like that.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

I literally just finished it.

Spoiler

I feel completely emotionally drained. Obviously the thing with Carley came right the fuck out of nowhere, but I did get a sense something bad would happen when Carley started insulting Lily and you could see the boiling rage on her face. I thought to myself "Oh, this won't end well. We're totally gonna have a catfight on our hands." And then Lily shot her.

I was one of the few people who didn't exile her immediately. But here's something interesting: during the train scene, before I even got on the train, I made the usual rounds of talking to everyone--which included Lily. I went into the RV and after a quick chat that went nowhere I noticed I could pick something up in the cab. I went and got it (a pencil) and that was when Lily broke free. Since I had been nice to her and tried to save her dad, she actually asked me to come with her. I was literally stunned since I had no idea if that was something that could even happen, I mean that would screw the rest of the story up completely! I seriously wonder what would have happened if I had said "yes", probably something simple like Lee says he can't leave without Clem and Lily takes off when he tries to go get her.

But yeah... I don't think I've ever seen a child death potentially at the hands of the main character in a game before. Even one that was, in itself, a mercy kill. And I was the one who pulled the trigger. I seriously found myself hesitating, and waited until he at least stopped breathing and drifted off like he was falling asleep.

Just... Fuck... That shit ain't right...

Anyway, even with all the sad bits, I couldn't help but laugh at a few bits. Like when I helped Omid with his bad leg first into the boxcar, he starts yelling at me "You piece of shit! Why'd you help me?! She's a woman!" I immediately have a mini heart attack thinking this was yet another life-or-death choice, and I screwed it up. But then she just jogs up to the doorway and jumps in like nothing, and he's like "..... Oh."

 

[urza4315]

Spoiler

Oh my god, they killed Carly! ... was my reaction. Seriously. I looked up what happens if you take Lilly with you afterwards, and I'm glad I left her behind.

My main complaint with the game so far is with Kenny's character. I mean, I try to be nice to him on every single opportunity I get - I disagree with him on ONE thing in episode 2 (killing Larry) and suddenly he fucking hates me. Maybe it's supposed to highlight what an irrational and emotional person Kenny is, but the transition just seemed scripted to me.
Seriously - I save your boy from zombies, I defend him from getting thrown out on the street, I give you and your son food, and I help you scope out the barn - but you won't even help a brother out when someone puts a gun to my face? Screw you, man.

And yet I still find myself unable to be harsh to you and I'm trying to salvage this relationship at every opportunity. I don't much trust them new guys, Omid and Miss Attitude. You redneck bastard.

Also, I knew the whole time it was Ben stealing the supplies. So much so, I didn't even get mad when he admitted to it on the train. I was just annoyed the game didn't give me a chance to accuse him earlier.

Spoiler

Lilly, it would cause a MAJOR plot hole if she did stay with the group. This is because the game is canon with the comic storyline and Lilly appears in the comic.

Wait, so when Glenn said he was going off to find his friends... those are the people from the comics? Daaamn

 

[shadow skill]

I watched someone play it but

Spoiler

when Carly died and I realized that the saved person dies in this specific place no matter what I was disappointed. Not because you failed but because you fail at the same juncture. Nor are you able to figure out who was stealing supplies.

Having "Haha you fail anyway." may be realistic but it negates replay value. But having things like this is inescapable for The Walking Dead. Incidentally this is the problem with the source material as well.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Really, I would have liked to have just shot Larry immediately after he tries to kill you in episode 1 after you save his life. Of course, then you'd be forced to shoot Lilly as well, but whoopdee do. Would have saved SO MANY problems (I realize that it can't let you do this because Lilly has to live to show up in the series later, but still).

Also the fact that your choices are cosmetic at best. There's really no difference between Doug and Carley for instance. Sure, Doug uses a laser pointer when Carley would have used her gun in a certain scene, but the result was the same. There's also the not-really-moral moral decisions they force on you.

Spoiler

Spared Danny? NOPE! He dies anyway. Want to save the Band Instructor? NOPE. DIES ANYWAY. Just things like that. ESPECIALLY when they let Mark die. Mark was my bro. I wanted him to survive, but no. It got taken away from me. I even knew that he was either dead or dying when the woman said that he was resting upstairs. I was like; 'YOU *****, YOU KILLED HIM DIDN'T YOU?'

Ah well. The way I play Lee is that he's the nicest guy in the world until you piss him off. Then he will slit your throat while you're sleeping unless there's a more...'painful' way to die.

Spoiler

Like killing Danny and the mother, then telling that to Andy after kicking the crap out of him but leaving him to be eaten alive by his own zombified mother as opposed to letting his suffering end quickly.

Anywho, these are the choices I would have liked to have been able to make:

Spoiler

Kill Larry after he proved to be an ungrateful son of a *****.

Kill Lilly because it just goes hand in hand with killing Larry.

Keep Glenn around.

Keep Mark around. Especially Mark. I loved Mark. All the homo.

Accuse Ben of being the one who was stealing supplies, because it was pretty obvious that it was him from when the topic first came up. Although, I'd assumed that he was actually paying the bandits off to stop the attacks...not that he thought he was saving a friend.

Save Carley/Doug

Kill Lilly. This is listed again because it's for after she kills Carley/Doug.

Let the game continue after letting Clementine die. I know that a lot of people like her...I don't. At every turn I tell her just how horrible of a person that Lee is, and constantly kill people in front of her, but she just doesn't care. For some reason, it makes her like him even more.


Kill Larry. This is listed again because I REALLY hate Larry.

Be able to save Mark. This is listed again because I REALLY love Mark.

Edit: Forgot one. Wish I could have let Duck die and saved Shawn. I mean...it's Ducks fault that they got into that situation in the first place, AND he's a little shit. At least Shawn was cool the entire time. I know, same deal as Lilly. He has to die because that's how it canonically goes down, but still.