The Walking Dead (from Telltale Games) - Catch All

iaintgotnopants wrote:

How has Gary Whitta conned all these people into thinking he's some sort of big deal?

Gary lives in San Francisco, is a ex game journalist, wrote a feature film, and he was probably already friends with everybody at TellTale long before The Walking Dead.

Having that said I really don't think the episode is bad as everybody is making it out to be and I also don't think it's the weakest by any stretch. But to each their own.

Crockpot wrote:
iaintgotnopants wrote:

How has Gary Whitta conned all these people into thinking he's some sort of big deal?

Gary lives in San Francisco, is a ex game journalist, wrote a feature film, and he was probably already friends with everybody at TellTale long before The Walking Dead.

I don't mean how he got the job. I mean why the lead up to this episode in the press was full of people acting like he's the greatest screenwriter of all time. He wrote a sh*tty Denzel Washington movie. BFD. One of my ex-roommates' brother wrote Wild Things 2 which was better than The Book of Eli.

iaintgotnopants wrote:
Crockpot wrote:
iaintgotnopants wrote:

How has Gary Whitta conned all these people into thinking he's some sort of big deal?

Gary lives in San Francisco, is a ex game journalist, wrote a feature film, and he was probably already friends with everybody at TellTale long before The Walking Dead.

I don't mean how he got the job. I mean why the lead up to this episode in the press was full of people acting like he's the greatest screenwriter of all time. He wrote a sh*tty Denzel Washington movie. BFD. One of my ex-roommates' brother wrote Wild Things 2 which was better than The Book of Eli.

Because most of the press knows him personally.

I finished this off the other night and enjoyed it a lot. I think part of my enjoyment stemmed from the fact that I thought that it was going to end with a "To Be Continued..." when the group

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goes into Crawford

,

so I was pleasantly surprised when there was a fair bit to do after that. I also didn't correctly predict what would happen in that place; I thought that

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The zombies were going to be a ruse to draw them in, and Molly was working with the bad Crawford guys. The episode would end with Molly turning them in, saying "I have no choice! They'll kill my baby/family/favorite tomato plant if I don't bring people back to them!", with our stalwart band locked away.

That didn't happen, so I was intrigued to see where they went with it. I also thought the scene with the

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dead dog/collar

to be rather strangely affecting. Some good use angle/"moment" shots there. Can't wait for the final episode!

iaintgotnopants wrote:
Crockpot wrote:
iaintgotnopants wrote:

How has Gary Whitta conned all these people into thinking he's some sort of big deal?

Gary lives in San Francisco, is a ex game journalist, wrote a feature film, and he was probably already friends with everybody at TellTale long before The Walking Dead.

I don't mean how he got the job. I mean why the lead up to this episode in the press was full of people acting like he's the greatest screenwriter of all time. He wrote a sh*tty Denzel Washington movie. BFD. One of my ex-roommates' brother wrote Wild Things 2 which was better than The Book of Eli.

I think it was more of a "hey this guy is our buddy, so we want to say good things about him." sort of thing. I enjoyed Book of Eli well enough, but it was far from the best written film in history. I can't really fault them for saying good things about their friend, but maybe people expected more? I dunno. Like I said, I'm not very far into the episode anyhow.

One nice moment so far was

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when you bend down burying the kid and that dude is just standing there... got a reaction from me

JillSammich wrote:
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when you bend down burying the kid and that dude is just standing there... got a reaction from me

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That scene was probably the the highlight of the whole episode for me. They created a pretty emotional situation making you revisit having to kill Duck, then they make you bury the zombie kid and they make you manually do each shovel of dirt. By the third one I was getting stuck in the pattern and when the guy was standing in the shadows it made me jump a little. I think if I didn't have to do each shovel of dirt manually, I wouldn't have been as effected by that.

I think it would have been the weakest episode except for one moment:

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And that's where you have the option to drop Ben or pull him up. I dropped him. Sounds like most people in this thread did too. (When I finished the episode, it was something like 4:1 who pulled him up.) It was totally understandable at the time. He told me to drop him. Kenny told me to drop him. Everything that had happened up to that point made me want to drop him. And so I dropped him. And yet.

I began to wonder what kind of a decision I had just made. I had just wandered through the blood spattered ruins of a stronghold that had only suffered the fittest, and showed no mercy to the weak or the vulnerable. Predictably, their relentlessness didn't make them strong, it made them vulnerable. Perhaps you're noticing the smugness even now. But when I dropped Ben, I had done it for the exact same reason that all the Randians in Cumberland had gotten rid of their sick uncles, their slow and weak grandparents, their vulnerable children. He was useless, whiny, constantly screwing up, putting everyone in danger. And there were only so many spots on the boat. So I dropped him. At the time, I tried to think about it practically. There were zombies coming up the stairs. I had to drop him. Except, even as I was letting him go, I knew Lee wasn't in any real danger. And, even if I didn't want him on the boat, that didn't mean that he had to die. I realized this almost immediately after the group had all escaped and returned home. I couldn't stop thinking about Ben lying sobbing on that chapel floor. It's the sort of thing that makes me wonder if I'm the person I think I am. It's the sort of thing that really makes me think about how I see the world.

That's why this was a solid episode. That's why this is a great game.

This game is certainly up there on my list of favorite games because of how different it is compared to most of the games I've played. I certainly hope they continue it after the first season. Although....

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idk how much of a fan I'll be with it from the viewpoint of someone else, since it obviously won't be Lee. But the writer(s) have been doing a pretty solid job so far, so I think they would come up with something to change my mind.

I noticed there seemed to be few key moments in this episode; I didn't notice many of those "X will remember you said Y".

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I ended up with Omid, whatever-her-name-was and Kenny going into the final episode. Ben was dead as I dropped him.

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In the scene where you have the choice to drop Ben, he's slipping from your hand, you have no assistance, and zombies are closing in. Ben wasn't co-operating, didn't want to be saved, and attempting to save someone who wasn't making any effort to help themselves (or Lee for that matter) seemed certain to just add to the body count.

It wasn't that I particularly wanted to drop Ben; I'd stood up for him only shortly before, but it was a case of settling for one death when the alternative only seemed likely to be more.

kazooka wrote:
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And that's where you have the option to drop Ben or pull him up. I dropped him...It's the sort of thing that makes me wonder if I'm the person I think I am. It's the sort of thing that really makes me think about how I see the world.

That's why this was a solid episode. That's why this is a great game.

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Well, *I* saved him. Guess I'm a better person than you are ;)

Just finished the Ep 4 last night and really enjoyed it. At first I wasn't looking forward to the new characters, but they grew on me.

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I saved Ben. Even though he had made mistakes, he hadn't set out to hurt anyone in the group (unlike when Lilly went crazy). Plus he placed the decision in my hands and I didn't want the guilt from letting him go.

Out of interest, did anyone keep Lilly with the group after she shot Carley/Doug in Ep 3, but dropped Ben in Ep 4? If so, how come?

I found this episode to be the least engaging.

Been playing with my wife at my side (she shouts the dialog option and I handle the controls). She doesn't handle scary things half as well as I, so she still got very worked up. But I'm starting to see too much of the man behind the curtain. We're on the fourth episode, so we've kind of seen it all regarding gameplay scenarios.

It's a simple game - puzzles take 1 minute to solve, action sequences take 1 minute to complete. Because of this, my enjoyment/fright-meter all hinge on character and story.

I thought that they tried to do a too much with the characters this episode. There was a lot of "emoting". It was like looking at marionettes give each other knowing looks. I knew what they were trying to convey, but they didn't quite nail it, so it just felt weird... It's like there's this human thing that humans do when they look at each other, and the characters in Walking Dead just aren't quite capable enough.

Story-wise:

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Saved Ben. Wife wanted him to drop, but then I was like, "nope". This kid is mentally destroyed, suffering a fit of temporary insanity. It'd be pretty messed up if I helped him in that way. So now he's part of the search group!

Seemed like the split on most decisions was heavily weighted to one choice, and yet the final search party was so crazily split! Weird. I ended up with a full team which was at 16%. Surprised to see that a party of just Kenny and Lee was the most popular at 18%. I mean, Kenny's the worst. I can handle him with everybody, but just me and him? Ugh, no thank you.

Crawford was disappointing. It was much more ominous and terrifying as a suggestion (the body wall!). But once we were inside and realized it was just more zombies, my interest level plummeted. And the exposition regarding the society itself felt pat (the doctor videos).

I feel like Lee getting bit is a great way to conclude the story. I was trying to figure out where they'd conclude, and his inevitable death is a great choice. Allows for a lot of emotional strings getting pulled at the end with Clem losing yet another parent figure.

Walking Dead 2 featuring Clem as the main character?

Still love the series. Excited for the concluding episode!

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I had been wondering the same thing, Ariskany. I was hoping that they would do another season, and I was thinking they could possibly go with her as the main character since Lee is obviously done for. The only thing is, I don't think I would enjoy playing her as much as a child as I would if she was at least a teenager, and I think that much of a jump in time would be too much from season 1 to season 2. Maybe someone else as season 2 and possibly three and then go as her season 4? Idk just thinking out loud.

Question on the end of Ep4:

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So, in this universe, is a zombie bite automatically fatal? When Ben first joined the group, he said that turning happened no matter how you died, that everyone was already infected, which sort of implied that a zombie bite might not be what turned you into a zombie, that it might be survivable.

Malor wrote:

Question on the end of Ep4:

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So, in this universe, is a zombie bite automatically fatal? When Ben first joined the group, he said that turning happened no matter how you died, that everyone was already infected, which sort of implied that a zombie bite might not be what turned you into a zombie, that it might be survivable.

Short version: yes.

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In the graphic novels, the TV show, and (presumably) the game, everyone is infected and will re-animate as a zombie regardless of how they die (unless they die from a headshot or something that is otherwise lethal to a zombie). Being bitten (or scratched, IIRC) will make you extremely sick and kill you.

So Lee will die, before too long, and become a zombie when he does. This does mean our hero has absolutely nothing to lose, heading into the final episode.

Parallelteeth wrote:

Just finished the Ep 4 last night and really enjoyed it. At first I wasn't looking forward to the new characters, but they grew on me.

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I saved Ben. Even though he had made mistakes, he hadn't set out to hurt anyone in the group (unlike when Lilly went crazy). Plus he placed the decision in my hands and I didn't want the guilt from letting him go.

Out of interest, did anyone keep Lilly with the group after she shot Carley/Doug in Ep 3, but dropped Ben in Ep 4? If so, how come?

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Easy answer for me: Ben has proved that he's so cowardly he'll let a child die instead of trying to fight. Lily, as messed up as she was, wasn't a coward and tried to do her best to protect people. Yes, she went off the deep end, and I probably should have left her to her own defenses, but I felt her argument about Lee's having killed and still being trusted was a good point. On the other hand, the second Ben bolted and left Clem absolutely defenseless, there wasn't even a question in my mind that choosing between him and anybody else left was going to be an easy choice.

Good points Rubb Ed. I like how these two decisions in particular have strong arguments both ways when placed in a post-apocalyptic world where death is one slip up away.

I enjoyed the episode (as much as you can ever "enjoy" The Walking Dead). I love how the game always makes me second guess myself -- every decision, every bit of dialogue. I think the devs have done very well within the limitations of the adventure game genre.

I'd also say that, instead of adding to my zombie fatigue, this game is making me anticipate something like Dead State all the more -- a game where I'm hoping some of these difficult decisions will happen a little more organically and randomly but be no less meaningful.

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How many people went to look at the garbage, rather than go right for the walkie-talkie? I did, and I swear, Lee scratched himself on that before the zombie got close enough to bite. I know it is probably foolish to hold out hope in The Walking Dead, but maybe Lee isn't bitten?

Atras wrote:
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How many people went to look at the garbage, rather than go right for the walkie-talkie? I did, and I swear, Lee scratched himself on that before the zombie got close enough to bite. I know it is probably foolish to hold out hope in The Walking Dead, but maybe Lee isn't bitten?

The Walking Dead, or, Where Everyone Dies

Atras wrote:
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How many people went to look at the garbage, rather than go right for the walkie-talkie? I did, and I swear, Lee scratched himself on that before the zombie got close enough to bite. I know it is probably foolish to hold out hope in The Walking Dead, but maybe Lee isn't bitten?

Doubt it. I really hope not too.

Parallelteeth wrote:

Just finished the Ep 4 last night and really enjoyed it. At first I wasn't looking forward to the new characters, but they grew on me.

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I saved Ben. Even though he had made mistakes, he hadn't set out to hurt anyone in the group (unlike when Lilly went crazy). Plus he placed the decision in my hands and I didn't want the guilt from letting him go.

Out of interest, did anyone keep Lilly with the group after she shot Carley/Doug in Ep 3, but dropped Ben in Ep 4? If so, how come?

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I kept Lily, more out of a sense that right then and there was a bad time to decide what to do with her. Exile or execution were in the cards, just not right away while everyone's blood was still hot.

hbi2k wrote:
Stele wrote:
SommerMatt wrote:

Episode 1 done for me as well. I barely use my PS3 these days, but I went that route because of the bundle pricing.
...

And speaking of having to kill people...
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Irene at the hotel was rough. But she wanted to die, and she didn't want to be a monster, and I let her. I felt bad about it, but I felt happy for her recognizing the truth of the situation.

I did the same thing. I was somewhat surprised that nearly half DIDN'T.

After reading some of this thread, I think people were confused by the choice a bit.

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Give her your gun makes it sound like you're going to be without your only firearm. Pretty big mistake. If it had been worded simply as "let her borrow" or "let her use" the gun then I imagine we'd have something closer to the 80% we see for some other choices.

I can't imagine even casual zombie genre fans not going along with a smart character who realizes they are done for and wants to end it. Such a nice contrast to all the morons in most zombie movies who think they will be somehow the one lucky immune person and hide their bite and then screw the group over. ;)

In my case, I simply didn't want to

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hand my gun over to a clearly unstable individual who could conceivably turn it against me, nor did I particularly want ANYONE firing a gun at that point if I could help it, considering that by that point it had been clearly established that zombies are drawn to loud noises. If there had been a "offer to give her the mercy stroke with your ax" option, I would've taken that, but there wasn't. It was one of the few points in the game so far where I feel the moral choice the writers were trying to give you was overshadowed by practical considerations they clearly didn't consider.

I'm with you hbi2k

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This was my thinking as well why would I give a gun to someone that unstable she might shoot us all thinking everyone is doomed then turn the gun on herself. Not giving her the gun seemed the only logical choice to me. If I was that worried about her turning I'd shoot her myself before I gave her a gun. I couldn't believe when Glen asked me why I didn't give her the gun, "what?, Glen you were the one all "let's save the chick in the hotel" room now you're mad at me for not letting her off herself as soon as possible?"

Finally finished Eppy 4 today. Interesting that most of the people who rate it the lowest also seem to like 3 the best. My ranking is 2 > 4 = 1 > 3. The puzzles in 2 were a little contrived and awkward, and the

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cannibalism

I saw coming a mile away, but the cinematic flourishes and the way it upped the stakes by introducing human antagonists made up for it. 3 had some really great moments, but the pacing was way off. It was the only episode that I thought really dragged.

Anyway, 4 I thought was a mixed bag.

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Not so sure about the whole "Crawford" arc. It's only supposed to be a couple months post-outbreak, yeah? That seems pretty quick for a highly organized totalitarian regime to form, strip Savannah of all resources, isolate itself, and then collapse.

Molly Sue is a sexy badass sarcastic tough-as-nails parkour ninjette with a heart of gold in a pixie cut and red riding hoodie. Dollars to donuts she's dead by the end of the final episode. Nobody that cool gets to live long.

I saved Ben. He's a royal f*ckup and even if there WERE enough seats on the boat I'd still give his spot to another box of flashlight batteries or something, but exile from the group is different from an out-and-out death sentence.

Interesting to see all the Kenny hate. I wonder if he starts acting differently depending on the choices you make, because I've sided with him more often than not and have found him to be a real stand-up guy in a pinch, with a few notable exceptions (mostly after his wife and kid die).

Edit:

Also, am I the only one with a very strong impression that Christa

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is totes preggers? She couldn't have been more obvious about it if she'd started shopping for maternity clothes in between bouts of morning sickness and going on crying jags while watching home videos about state-mandated abortion.

hbi2k wrote:

Finally finished Eppy 4 today. Interesting that most of the people who rate it the lowest also seem to like 3 the best. My ranking is 2 > 4 = 1 > 3. The puzzles in 2 were a little contrived and awkward, and the

Spoiler:

cannibalism

I saw coming a mile away, but the cinematic flourishes and the way it upped the stakes by introducing human antagonists made up for it. 3 had some really great moments, but the pacing was way off. It was the only episode that I thought really dragged.

Anyway, 4 I thought was a mixed bag.

Spoiler:

Not so sure about the whole "Crawford" arc. It's only supposed to be a couple months post-outbreak, yeah? That seems pretty quick for a highly organized totalitarian regime to form, strip Savannah of all resources, isolate itself, and then collapse.

Molly Sue is a sexy badass sarcastic tough-as-nails parkour ninjette with a heart of gold in a pixie cut and red riding hoodie. Dollars to donuts she's dead by the end of the final episode. Nobody that cool gets to live long.

I saved Ben. He's a royal f*ckup and even if there WERE enough seats on the boat I'd still give his spot to another box of flashlight batteries or something, but exile from the group is different from an out-and-out death sentence.

Interesting to see all the Kenny hate. I wonder if he starts acting differently depending on the choices you make, because I've sided with him more often than not and have found him to be a real stand-up guy in a pinch, with a few notable exceptions (mostly after his wife and kid die).

Edit:

Also, am I the only one with a very strong impression that Christa

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is totes preggers? She couldn't have been more obvious about it if she'd started shopping for maternity clothes in between bouts of morning sickness and going on crying jags while watching home videos about state-mandated abortion.

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For some reason, I thought they had out and out stated that she was. But I think you're right, they just implied it very heavy-handedly.

kazooka wrote:
hbi2k wrote:

Also, am I the only one with a very strong impression that Christa

Spoiler:

is totes preggers? She couldn't have been more obvious about it if she'd started shopping for maternity clothes in between bouts of morning sickness and going on crying jags while watching home videos about state-mandated abortion.

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For some reason, I thought they had out and out stated that she was. But I think you're right, they just implied it very heavy-handedly.

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Maybe no one's mentioned it because we've only got one more episode with her. Not like she's going to give birth anytime soon... Thus it probably forshadows her death? Or Omid's? One of that baby's parents is going to die, otherwise I can't figure out why they'd make her character pregnant at all.

Ariskany Evan wrote:
kazooka wrote:
hbi2k wrote:

Also, am I the only one with a very strong impression that Christa

Spoiler:

is totes preggers? She couldn't have been more obvious about it if she'd started shopping for maternity clothes in between bouts of morning sickness and going on crying jags while watching home videos about state-mandated abortion.

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For some reason, I thought they had out and out stated that she was. But I think you're right, they just implied it very heavy-handedly.

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Maybe no one's mentioned it because we've only got one more episode with her. Not like she's going to give birth anytime soon... Thus it probably forshadows her death? Or Omid's? One of that baby's parents is going to die, otherwise I can't figure out why they'd make her character pregnant at all.

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Makes sense, but they may also want to establish her character for a later cameo in a future season.

cyrax wrote:
Ariskany Evan wrote:
kazooka wrote:
hbi2k wrote:

Also, am I the only one with a very strong impression that Christa

Spoiler:

is totes preggers? She couldn't have been more obvious about it if she'd started shopping for maternity clothes in between bouts of morning sickness and going on crying jags while watching home videos about state-mandated abortion.

Spoiler:

For some reason, I thought they had out and out stated that she was. But I think you're right, they just implied it very heavy-handedly.

Spoiler:

Maybe no one's mentioned it because we've only got one more episode with her. Not like she's going to give birth anytime soon... Thus it probably forshadows her death? Or Omid's? One of that baby's parents is going to die, otherwise I can't figure out why they'd make her character pregnant at all.

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Makes sense, but they may also want to establish her character for a later cameo in a future season.

Well they haven't said it outright as far as I remember, but they imply it very heavily in my opinion. (Not spoilering this out, since no one can tell what I am talking about with the white space above anyway).

Ariskany Evan wrote:

Been playing with my wife at my side (she shouts the dialog option and I handle the controls). She doesn't handle scary things half as well as I, so she still got very worked up. But I'm starting to see too much of the man behind the curtain. We're on the fourth episode, so we've kind of seen it all regarding gameplay scenarios.

It's a simple game - puzzles take 1 minute to solve, action sequences take 1 minute to complete. Because of this, my enjoyment/fright-meter all hinge on character and story.

This is what I actually came in here to ask about. I wasn't going to read any of the thread to avoid spoiling anything, but I skimmed the last page and saw this comment.

So, my question was, how is that working out playing the game with your wife? My wife isn't into games or horror, but she'll occasionally play something with me if there's a common interest. The last games we played together were several from the CSI series and she loved those (because she likes the show). For whatever reason, she really likes The Walking Dead show (as do I) and she's interested in the game. So, what is the gameplay actually like? Are the dialog options timed so you have to make quick decisions or is it something we could talk about together before making a decision? Are there QTEs or anything? I just wanted to get a handle on how it was played to see if it was something we could sit down with together and engage in or if things are forced on you quickly and she might end up sitting there watching me play instead of engaging in it herself.

Vega wrote:

Are the dialog options timed so you have to make quick decisions or is it something we could talk about together before making a decision? Are there QTEs or anything?

Yes to all of this.

Some of the timed stuff might not be great for a watching spouse but there's plenty of time to stop and talk. I play with my wife and she loves it.