The Walking Dead Season 2: Amid The Ruins Review

Jimothy Sterling

New member
Apr 18, 2011
5,976
0
0
The Walking Dead Season 2: Amid The Ruins Review

Things get bleak in this episode. That makes a bright change of pace.

Read Full Article
 

Pops16

New member
Nov 4, 2012
12
0
0
Just curious, what prevents you from giving it more than four stars? It seems your review was pretty favorable. I was just wondering what is keeping it from being truly great in your mind.
 

CharrHearted

New member
Aug 20, 2010
681
0
0
Sadly because of damn psn in Europe, we have to wait until tomarrow, same as the dark souls 2 dlc... yay!
 

Yossarian1507

New member
Jan 20, 2010
681
0
0
All right... so what changes if
You don't steal meds from Arvo? I'm pretty sure the same thing ie. pissed off Russians and a stand off, but for a different reason. I just want to know for sure to reassure myself that I didn't fuck up completely with this.
Also, I'm totally calling right now Clem and the baby being the only survivors of the episode 5, and she'll name him Lee.

Outside of spoilers: damn. I really thought I started to get some resistance to TellTale cliffhangers. Wrong again. Episode 5 can't come soon enough.
 

roboman123

New member
Mar 7, 2011
6
0
0
Yossarian1507 said:
All right... so what changes if
You don't steal meds from Arvo? I'm pretty sure the same thing ie. pissed off Russians and a stand off, but for a different reason. I just want to know for sure to reassure myself that I didn't fuck up completely with this.
To answer...
If you don't, the same thing does happen, except it's really odd because he claims you still stole from him, and it makes mention of Jane stealing something, but I saw nothing in that scene to confirm it, it was the one part of this episode where I was like "That's not how it happened!
 

Don Incognito

New member
Feb 6, 2013
281
0
0
roboman123 said:
Yossarian1507 said:
All right... so what changes if
You don't steal meds from Arvo? I'm pretty sure the same thing ie. pissed off Russians and a stand off, but for a different reason. I just want to know for sure to reassure myself that I didn't fuck up completely with this.
To answer...
If you don't, the same thing does happen, except it's really odd because he claims you still stole from him, and it makes mention of Jane stealing something, but I saw nothing in that scene to confirm it, it was the one part of this episode where I was like "That's not how it happened!

I think it relates to
Arvo hiding the meds. He's trying to keep them from the rest of his group, for some reason. So even if Clem & Jane don't take them, he is still stashing them somewhere to hid them from the group, and he has to come up with a cover story.
 

karma9308

New member
Jan 26, 2013
280
0
0
If you
Axe Sarita
Can you not
Axe her face in?
Because I kept trying to not do it, but I only had like 5 seconds and I would keep getting munched if I didn't do it. Which led to people freaking the fuck out for obvious reasons. Because I didn't want to do that!
 

Frozengale

New member
Sep 9, 2009
761
0
0
Don Incognito said:
roboman123 said:
Yossarian1507 said:
All right... so what changes if
You don't steal meds from Arvo? I'm pretty sure the same thing ie. pissed off Russians and a stand off, but for a different reason. I just want to know for sure to reassure myself that I didn't fuck up completely with this.
To answer...
If you don't, the same thing does happen, except it's really odd because he claims you still stole from him, and it makes mention of Jane stealing something, but I saw nothing in that scene to confirm it, it was the one part of this episode where I was like "That's not how it happened!

I think it relates to
Arvo hiding the meds. He's trying to keep them from the rest of his group, for some reason. So even if Clem & Jane don't take them, he is still stashing them somewhere to hid them from the group, and he has to come up with a cover story.
Also Jane stole Arvo's gun. So yes, even if you refuse the meds you get accused of stealing, because if nothing else you do take his gun.

As for Kenny...

I'm so sick of Kenny. I was happy to see him at the beginning of Episode 2, but by the end of it I was starting to remember just how much of a nuisance he can be. It was hard enough keeping him in line when I was Lee, now that I'm Clementine he is an even bigger threat when he comes unhinged. He can be helpful, but he's also the first to cause problems. I really hope the Russians kill him so I don't have to eventually make the choice myself.

Also this is perhaps the first time I wish it would let me just split up from the group and never come back the only reason I was sticking around was because I liked Jane and Sarah but...

Once Jane leaves and Sarah gets killed I can't think of a reason to stay with the group. Mike is alright, but no reason to stick with him. I hate Bonnie. Rebecca is okay, but she's dead now anyway. Kenny is just a liability waiting to happen. Luke was okay but he's slowly becoming an annoyance, especially now that Nick is dead and Jane is gone.
 

Burnouts3s3

New member
Jan 20, 2012
746
0
0
I really liked this episode. Though, it felt pretty sad that
Sarah always dies, no matter how hard you try to save her.
 

MediocrePear

New member
Jul 23, 2014
1
0
0
Burnouts3s3 said:
I really liked this episode. Though, it felt pretty sad that
Sarah always dies, no matter how hard you try to save her.
Wow
She does? That's dumb. I felt bad about not saving her before, but now I know it doesn't matter so who cares. I love this series to pieces, but am I the only one kind of getting tired of how pointless your choices feel? Especially in regards to which people you try to help/save? I feel like Jane may have genuinely had the right view, because it feels like all of the effort and sacrifice I put into being nice and merciful and helping people and giving them second chances, ALWAYS turns out to be pointless. They ALWAYS betray you anyway or blame you anyway or just die without making any contribution. Like I was sooo pissed at the ending when Arvo blames you for stealing his crap even though I didn't. What was the point of making that a big moral choice (echoing the one in S1E2) if it didn't freaking matter at all?! I had Zero hesitation in making the choice to shoot Rebecca, because I knew it didn't matter. A gunfight was gonna start anyway. Maybe that's deliberate and I'm supposed to be turning bitter and cynical.
Can't wait for the final episode!
 

Sqrt(-1)

New member
Jul 12, 2012
26
0
0
Great episode. Waiting for the next one is going to be tough.

Kenny
First of all, I didn't really think that Kenny went to crazy in Season 1, especially after what he went through. After this episode, I might need to do a play through of it again, because he has gone completely insane. Personally, I think that the beating from Carver gave him a concussion, which probably made him worse.

Jane
I really liked Jane, because the ending of episode 3 had me convinced she was a complete psycho, and this episode proved me wrong. Come to think of it, she's a lot like Mollie from Season 1. I'm sad to see her go, and I doubt we'll see her again.

A bit unrelated, but was there a teaser clip for episode 5 at the end? For me, it went straight to the choices and credits, and I don't know if it was a glitch, or intentional.
Also, the Telltale pet names at the end of the credits are hilarious. I think they put those names in to counteract the depression of the game.
 

Raggedstar

New member
Jul 5, 2011
753
0
0
Sqrt(-1) said:
A bit unrelated, but was there a teaser clip for episode 5 at the end? For me, it went straight to the choices and credits, and I don't know if it was a glitch, or intentional.
Nope, no teaser. I don't think there was one for season 1's finale either, so it's likely intentional.

OT: Great episode ('dat ending. Holy crap). I even laughed a few times, though a few issues.

I feel like Sarah got the axe (...I'm sorry) a bit hard here. I thought she would've had some kind of redemption, something to make her a bit more than a whiny burden. Nope, whiny burden was the way she went out. Jane had a discussion about how her sister was dragging herself following, and how she decided she would give up. They could've had a callback to that and have Sarah make a conscious decision to not live. At least then she would've had some sort of control. Either she dies because she's huddled up in a trailer barely moving or talking (even in the face of a walker invasion), or she dawdles around doing nothing in the deck (not even hiding inside, which is where one would think a scared girl would be). Ben was treated as an irredeemable burden too, but his death had a lot of significance and character to it (both ways he can go, at the bell tower and the alley).

I heard Nick got the shaft too in a very strange way, but I'm surprised the dude made it this far anyways. Gold star for making it longer than Doug/Carley and Alvin as characters not every file will have alive.

Also, chalk up another who wasn't satisfied with the Arvo encounter aftermath. I didn't rob you! Your gun was taken, but you got the meds, which was the item of interest and arguably the most important thing. Jane wasn't around and Clem spared you. Telltale could've changed the dialogue to comment how Jane threatened him or nearly killed him, but nope, we didn't take the meds.

Really like Jane though. I'm happy they tried to give her a little more character than just the cold-hearted, cool survival chick. Molly was alright, but Jane and Clem had a lot of chemistry going. I was really unsure who I would stick with, though. Kenny is at the end of her rope and the group is obviously falling apart (shot Rebecca because I was afraid of her snacking on a baby-burrito), but I don't fully trust Jane either despite her ability and sense. Maybe Clem and the baby will survive and they can be a Virginian Tarzan and live with that raccoon family.
 

Xman490

Doctorate in Danger
May 29, 2010
1,186
0
0
Pops16 said:
Just curious, what prevents you from giving it more than four stars? It seems your review was pretty favorable. I was just wondering what is keeping it from being truly great in your mind.
It could be that games based on pre-ordering give Jim a bad feeling, or that the episode wasn't that good by Escapist standards: 3.5 stars is a very common score on this site.
 

shintakie10

New member
Sep 3, 2008
1,342
0
0
MarsAtlas said:
Sqrt(-1) said:
A bit unrelated, but was there a teaser clip for episode 5 at the end? For me, it went straight to the choices and credits, and I don't know if it was a glitch, or intentional.
I didn't get one either. Even last seasons episode 4 had a "Next time..." clip at the end, so the only reason I can think of it being so for this one is that they just didn't have one prepared. Telltale is really stretching their resources thin with all these projects they're letting out.
This one ends on a pretty heavy cliff hanger though. Any sort of teaser clip showing anythin other than Clementine all the time and nothin else would spoil what actually happens.
 

Yossarian1507

New member
Jan 20, 2010
681
0
0
MarsAtlas said:
I'm gonna be that person who says it.

I'm glad she's dead. Well, maybe not "glad", but nothing of value was lost. She has never, ever been anything but a liability. She's fifteen years old and less competent than an eight-year old girl. She contributes nothing to the group at all, and while I wouldn't give her the death sentence for that, she is just to fragile. I saved her in teh trailer park, and back at the war memorial she's like "I want my daddy and to go back to the cabin". You know, at that point, fuck it. Its clear that she couldn't be helped. I thought the slap to the face might be some sort of wake-up call, as it was a callback to the first time that her father slapped her, but she was back to her usual idiot self shortly afterwards. Then she is pretty much responsible for her own damn death because she's being completely useless, watching while people keep walkers at bay. At the very least, she could've been helping give emotional support ot Rebecca while delivering the baby, but she stood on the deck being completely useless and died because of it. Then, when she's screaming for help, I can't really think anything but "too little too late". I did yell at Jane to at least try to help Sarah, but I wasn't going to push it if she wasn't willing to risk herself over Sarah.

Funnily enough, the achievement you get on Steam after finishing the trailer park is called "A Heavy Burden". You're so right, TTG, she is indeed a heavy burden to lug around. A fifteen-year old who has less maturity than Duck - that is an achievement.
Damn right.
I did everything to save that girl in the episode up until the choice "help Jane vs help Sarah". At this point I just said "Nope. I'm sorry Sarah. You were useless. You didn't even help us with the walkers, you just stood there. I really tried, but you are just hopeless."

Of course, that made me mad too, because Jane leaves afterwards.
 

senordesol

New member
Oct 12, 2009
1,302
0
0
A fine installment.

I ditched Sarah first chance I got. It's been four episodes and I didn't see a single glimmer of hope for her...but at least she's in a better place...well, several different better places (ba-dum-tish).

What's interesting is that I found Kenny to be the least of my problems. I was able to talk him down and keep him under control pretty quickly. It's Luke who's gotten on my nerves. I mean...fucking somebody when we're literally seconds away with a woman in labor? WE DON'T NEED MORE BABIES RIGHT NOW, YOU A-HOLE!

The only thing that truly bothered me, however, was Rebecca's sudden deathly illness. I don't remember her hacking up a lung at any other point and it seemed to only happen *because* she delivered a baby. Now I know a lot can go wrong in childbirth, but this seemed like the cheapest, vaguest way to go about it.

Finally, Jane you *****, at least see us off safely before you split...and where'd you go even with all the zombies outside?