The Walking Dead (from Telltale Games) - Catch All

Well looks like Telltale has another series of save game bugs with this one. I loaded my Steam game only to see that it lost a bunch of progress in Episode 4. I replayed it only to find that suddenly Episode 5 was listed as coming soon. If I restart the game, Episode five is listed as installed, but if I try to run it, I can only use default choices.

I tried a number of fixes on the Telltale forums. Nothing worked. Sure would be nice if there were some sort of official reply from the company before the holiday, but it doesn't seem likely.

This has really soured my experience.

Can somebody fill in the decisions that were listed at the end (spoiler tagged of course)? This is what my screen looked like:

IMAGE(http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/1137419435309110326/708509E9C4AA073009A61B5FEF8E847F397BEE7F/)

iaintgotnopants wrote:

Can somebody fill in the decisions that were listed at the end (spoiler tagged of course)? This is what my screen looked like:

IMAGE(http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/1137419435309110326/708509E9C4AA073009A61B5FEF8E847F397BEE7F/)

So I started playing the two free episodes off PSN on Sunday, the third on Monday, and 4 and 5 today. On one hand, I feel like I might just be cold to some things as I didn't find myself as emotionally distraught as most others do. Or perhaps I was better prepared for it. But I don't know if I ever played a game that put me through so much emotionally as this.

I heard the hype, but even then this game literally came out of nowhere and struck me to the ground.

Here are my stats for all 5 episodes, though I don't feel like taking a picture from my TV.

Spoiler:

Episode 1

Lie to Hershel? you and 63% of players were honest.

Duck or Shawn? You and 49% of players chose Duck

Side with Kenny? You and 48% of players defended Kenny

Gave Irene the Gun? You and 45% of players gave her the gun

Doug or Carley? You and 76% of players chose Carley.

Episode 2

Chopped David's leg off? You and 15% of players left him to die (though only because I ran out of time trying to find alternate options)

Shot Jolene? You and 87% of players had Danny shoot her

Helped kill Larry? You and 31% of players helped kill Larry

Killed both of the St. John brothers? You and 82% of players didn't kill both brothers

Stole food from the car? You and 44% of players didn't steal

Episode 3

Did you shoot the girl in the street? You and 59% of players did not shoot her

Did you abandon Lilly? You and 42% of players left her

Did you fight Kenny? You and 55% of players fought him

Did you shoot Duck? You and 79% of players shot him

Did you help Omid? You and 57% of players helped Omid

Episode 4

Did you kill the boy in the attic? You and 75% of players killed him

Did you lie to or threaten Vernon? You and 66% of players were rational and honest

Did you bring Clementine with you to Crawford? You and 26% of players left her at the house

Did you let Ben fall to his death? You and 67% of players pulled him up

Did you reveal your bite to the group? You and 80% of players showed the bite

Episode 5

Removed Lee's arm? You and 71% of players removed your arm

Lost temper? You and 70% of players lost your temper with Kenny

Gave up weapons? You and 63% of players surrendered your weapons

Killed Clementine's captor? You and 41% of players killed the stranger

Stopped Lee from turning? You and 65% of players made sure Lee didn't turn

Part of me wants to replay this game and see what happens with the other choices. The other part is afraid that things won't be so different and that the spell will be broken, so to speak.

As for ending spoilers.

Spoiler:

That post-credits thing is what really gets me. When the credits started rolling I thought "where the f*ck is my closure?" Then they showed Clementine wandering the field, sad, depressed, alone, and I just felt like sh*t for even playing this game that would throw her in such a spot. I saw the two silhouettes in the field and hoped to God they would be Omid and his pregnant lady whose name escapes me, but dammit did they leave it open ended. I kept wondering if my advice in those last moments somehow led her there and I made one big mistake, or if I should have told Omid and lady to get to the train instead of finding a boat.

That last cut-scene is enough to make me not want to play this game again. I mean, damn. So gut wrenching and terrible. I just traumatized this girl in the worst way possible.

That said, I'm looking to do a spoiler laden podcast of this game in the near future, if anyone is interested.

My primary hard drive crashed, so I lost my saves. However, upon starting episode five tonight I discovered that the "randomly generate story decisions" when starting episode five seems to have mimicked the decisions I made in the first four episodes. I guess that's a good luck following bad luck sort of thing.

Bonus_Eruptus wrote:
Spoiler:

I almost didn't have her kill Lee, in hopes that she'd come back as a teenager in season 2 to finish him, like how Rick dug up Shane in the comics. I wonder what happened to Lilly.

Looking at the wikia for TWD, it appears she's the one who gunned down Lori and the baby in the comics during the Governor's raid, with a shotgun blast to the abdomen. Comic Lori's brain was never destroyed that we know of. I hope Rick runs across her and a zombie baby someday.

Spoiler:

I've never read the comics and as far as I was aware this game followed a completely different story and characters. So if there is some added value in having read the comics it is lost on me.

I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting leaving Lilly behind to bite me in the ass like that, where this guy brings it up. I knew it was a horrible thing to do, but God dammit she shot Carly!

I don't know what sort of time span the comic takes place in, but I was thinking of season two taking place with Clementine as a teenager or something, that way all your decisions would still be applicable but don't force the writers to either make them matter in little ways or have to make some biiiiiiig changes, or just completely wiping them out. It would be interesting if what Clementine saw and those last moments effected dialog options and other behaviors after she had grown older.

That, or have Molly as the lead character of season two.

I'm sure they already have plans and are working on season two now, though. So we'll see.

Truth told, though, I'm not sure what to actually think of this game's writing. A conversation I had with CptGlanton while playing Halo 4 co-op has got me thinking more than ever that writing in games is typically not all that great, and now I'm questioning whether the writing of the Walking Dead is as good as we all feel it is or if it only feels that way because it is interactive.

I mean, it's one thing to watch stuff on television and see these plot twists. Some of them (especially episode two) you can see coming, or once they happen it's sort of a "of COURSE that's the direction they went" thing. However, because it is interactive it's no longer about following the characters, it is about being involved. As I was going to bed last night I realized one of the biggest feelings I had by the end of this series was guilt, and that is something I've never, ever felt when playing a game.

In which case, how do you measure the quality of a games writer? I recognized certain choices as very video-gamey choices and thus wasn't too emotionally effected, but then others happened and I got all wide eyed and shouted at my television. Emotional involvement and liking the characters suggest that the writing in this game was, in fact, very good.

Which, in truth, makes sense. Maybe it doesn't matter that, if this were on television, everything that happens would seem a bit trite and cliche. But there are two types of stories. Character driven and event driven. Walking Dead is clearly a character driven story, and at that it succeeded immensely.

So I guess this was just one big rant for me to figure out if I really feel this game had good writing, and I believe it does. So, yeah.

Hey Eruptus, you should probably add a description to that spoiler since it isn't just for the game, but primarily the comics. I'm usually pretty anal about those, but I feel like I've already been spoiled on that stuff given conservations of the TV show hinting at the "proper" universe.

I thought the last ep was fine, and the story and ending were pretty good. Someone at Telltale sure likes the height perspective, what were there, four of those? Loved the "villian."

Spoiler:

How could Lee kill him? I kept my weapons, but I didn't see an opportunity to finish him. It just played out with Clem shooting him. Trust me, I was mashing Q as fast as I could to kill that insane man.

It was also touching to see Kenny self-sacrifice for once. But I'm torn on whether is was too out of character; I'm leaning on no.

Whoa. Came for game talk left with comic spoilers.

It kills me that no one can talk about anything walking dead related without bringing up comic spoilers.

This game is fantastic. Why didn't you guys force me to buy it sooner? ;D

I am half way through the second episode. This game is ridiculously intense.

Just finished it.

Damnit.

ccesarano wrote:

Truth told, though, I'm not sure what to actually think of this game's writing. A conversation I had with CptGlanton while playing Halo 4 co-op has got me thinking more than ever that writing in games is typically not all that great, and now I'm questioning whether the writing of the Walking Dead is as good as we all feel it is or if it only feels that way because it is interactive.

I mean, it's one thing to watch stuff on television and see these plot twists. Some of them (especially episode two) you can see coming, or once they happen it's sort of a "of COURSE that's the direction they went" thing. However, because it is interactive it's no longer about following the characters, it is about being involved. As I was going to bed last night I realized one of the biggest feelings I had by the end of this series was guilt, and that is something I've never, ever felt when playing a game.

In which case, how do you measure the quality of a games writer? I recognized certain choices as very video-gamey choices and thus wasn't too emotionally effected, but then others happened and I got all wide eyed and shouted at my television. Emotional involvement and liking the characters suggest that the writing in this game was, in fact, very good.

Which, in truth, makes sense. Maybe it doesn't matter that, if this were on television, everything that happens would seem a bit trite and cliche. But there are two types of stories. Character driven and event driven. Walking Dead is clearly a character driven story, and at that it succeeded immensely.

So I guess this was just one big rant for me to figure out if I really feel this game had good writing, and I believe it does. So, yeah.

You can only judge writing in context. If it works brilliantly within the game then it's great writing. It is a tricky game to judge because there really isn't a lot new in terms of plot and themes. It's variations on what we've seen before but then, again, if you've seen similar scenarios before but are still engrossed in the game then that is good writing.

The game was never going to work for everyone. I feel lucky that it did for me.

I bought this on whim when it went on sale around the time episode 3 came out, and I'm so glad I did. I'd say this is definitely the best point and click adventure game I've played, mainly because of the mix of story, difficult decisions, and relatively easy (and therefore not very frustrating) puzzles. My only criticism is that the game doesn't diverge as much as I'd hope based on your decisions. Other than that, though, it's a pretty amazing experience.

I'm sad that I didn't see the bit after the credits, so I'll have to go back and replay the last part so that I can take a look at that.

ccesarano wrote:

As for ending spoilers.

Spoiler:

That post-credits thing is what really gets me. When the credits started rolling I thought "where the f*ck is my closure?" Then they showed Clementine wandering the field, sad, depressed, alone, and I just felt like sh*t for even playing this game that would throw her in such a spot. I saw the two silhouettes in the field and hoped to God they would be Omid and his pregnant lady whose name escapes me, but dammit did they leave it open ended. I kept wondering if my advice in those last moments somehow led her there and I made one big mistake, or if I should have told Omid and lady to get to the train instead of finding a boat.

That last cut-scene is enough to make me not want to play this game again. I mean, damn. So gut wrenching and terrible. I just traumatized this girl in the worst way possible.

That said, I'm looking to do a spoiler laden podcast of this game in the near future, if anyone is interested.

WARNING: INCLUDES COMIC SPOILERS

Spoiler:

I almost didn't have her kill Lee, in hopes that she'd come back as a teenager in season 2 to finish him, like how Rick dug up Shane in the comics. I wonder what happened to Lilly.

Looking at the wikia for TWD, it appears she's the one who gunned down Lori and the baby in the comics during the Governor's raid, with a shotgun blast to the abdomen. Comic Lori's brain was never destroyed that we know of. I hope Rick runs across her and a zombie baby someday.

Sorry, warning about comic spoilers added.

Finished Episode 5 last night. Was left disappointed.

Spoiler:

I teared up a bit during Lee's final moments and we opted to prevent him from turning. After that, the screen went dark and the credits rolled. The instant lack of closure killed whatever feelings I had about Lee's death and Clem's "survival."

After the credits, we watched Clem walking in the countryside. Alone. Questions start racing through our heads from "Where is Christa and Omid?" to "How did she get out there by herself?" It seems like having Clementine end up alone was the plan all along. Kenny and Ben die. I don't know if Omid can die from his infection in Episode 4 but Christa and Omid can decide not to go with Lee at the end. Judging by Clem's reaction to the two people off in the distance, she doesn't know who they are. Her look of terror as the "To Be Continued!" screen didn't help. TellTale was dangling a terrified Clem in front of me and they're like "If you want to see your precious Clementine again, buy Season 2!" and I'm all "No, please! Don't hurt Clem!" [TITLE SCREEN WITH MANIACAL LAUGHTER]

I would've preferred a concrete ending to this Season regardless of where Season 2 goes.

BTW, placeholder text in the Stats menu? Ouch. That's gotta sting a little.

I would like to see them add more time for me to decide on what to do. I undertsand they are trying to make it feel like you are in the moment, but not being able to read all the options once or twice was annoying.

P.S

Spoiler:

I let Clem save the bullet and let me turn... what a tough decision, but I knew she would need the bullet! did anyone else get annoyed at how the guard was trapped? They could have made it look more convincing so you did not know he would jump out at Clem. I think they should have made the whole guard a tad harder and if you failed all you heard was a gun shot, then fade to black and if you watch the credits you see that Clem did survive, but is in danger.

Mystic Violet wrote:

BTW, placeholder text in the Stats menu? Ouch. That's gotta sting a little.

My stats have been like that since Episode 2. I think it has to do with the workaround I had to do at the beginning of each episode (except this last one) to get my saves to properly load up and reflect my choices.

In spite of the technical issues and having to hassle with fixing my save each time, this is still my likely GOTY. While it was more interactive fiction than game, I would love to see more experiences like this out in the marketplace.

Okay, big season five spoilers

Spoiler:

I have heard that if you go alone you meet everybody again when you come back to the house, is that correct?

For people who couldn't kill the guy at the end did you cut off your arm? I strangled him myself by slamming the sh*t out of Q.

I also found my experience at the end sort of clouded by thinking how the hell did Clem get here, she must be a hell of a long way from the city and how is she going to survive without food. I actually got scared for a moment that she was going to shoot herself whole sitting on that log since she has to be so crazily emotionally destroyed after seei her parents and then seeing Lee turn or shooting him.

One thing I really have to say - the girl playing Clem did an absolutely fantastic job with the voice acting in that last couple of scenes. Combine that with the way they animate her...absolutely heartbreaking stuff at times.

Spoiler:

My particular favorite (if that's the right word) is how utterly miserable she looks after you smear her with zombie guts

Does a good job at playing a kid as well, given that the actress is 37

I enjoyed Episode 5 -- in as much as you can enjoy something as bleak as The Walking Dead. It seemed a fitting ending to this run of episodes.

Spoiler:

I kept my arm, which according to the post-episode stats was a minority position by some margin. I just felt that the more time spent finding Clem and the less time spent recovering from a battlefield amputation the better. I also killed the Station Wagon guy. Way too creepy of a guy to cut him any slack. Plus, after finally finding Clem again, I wasn't taking any chances. Same logic held in the final scene. I had Clem shoot me.

I have to imagine that the post-credits coda was a hint about the next season. Even though there was no "To Be Continued," I can't imagine they are just leaving Clem hanging. I don't know if the next run of episodes will pick up there or encounter Clem somewhere along the way, but I'm guessing we'll definitely see her again.

Overall, a very satisfying gaming experience. One of the best gaming stories I've experienced in recent years and a great use of the source material.

Damn.

Spoiler:

I have to be honest, I never really felt that strong of an emotional connection to Clem throughout the season. She just felt too much like a character to me than an actual child. But when she realizes that Lee is going to die then that just really hit hard. In fact it's almost a shame that they didn't turn the screws in a little more at that moment instead of going into survival mode, but still that really landed emotionally.

The only other game I can think of that really tugged at the heart strings this much was To The Moon. Without going into spoilers I felt that while The Walking Dead doesn't reach that same emotional height, it does it without being as overtly manipulative which I appreciate.

Also this episode did a really great job of making it feel like your choices really mattered. Even though it would shatter the illusion, I really want to know how things could play out differently.

Spoiler:

What happens if you cut off your arm? What happens to Kenny if you killed Ben at Crawford? What if you let Christa and Omid cross the sign first?

Latrine wrote:

Damn.

Spoiler:

What happens if you cut off your arm? What happens to Kenny if you killed Ben at Crawford? What if you let Christa and Omid cross the sign first?

To answer your middle question

Spoiler:

If Christa, Omid, and Kenny come with you Kenny accidentally knocks your walkie talkie into a hole in a roof and Christa goes in after it, Kenny jumps in to get her out then gets swamped

Hollowheel wrote:

Well looks like Telltale has another series of save game bugs with this one. I loaded my Steam game only to see that it lost a bunch of progress in Episode 4. I replayed it only to find that suddenly Episode 5 was listed as coming soon. If I restart the game, Episode five is listed as installed, but if I try to run it, I can only use default choices.

I tried a number of fixes on the Telltale forums. Nothing worked. Sure would be nice if there were some sort of official reply from the company before the holiday, but it doesn't seem likely.

This has really soured my experience.

I've got the same problem. Incredibly frustrating. I don't have multiple prefs.prop files as the one response from a Telltale rep suggested on the TT forums, so I backed up my saves, deleted all Walking Dead files, and am currently re-downloading. The only other fix I see suggested on the forums involves a lot of really convoluted-looking command line nonsense, so hopefully this fixes it.

Ugh. Why does it seem like a game can either be awesome, or work right, but not both at the same time?

Well, I'm finished up. I really want to play the series again one day but I don't know if I could bring myself to. I finish every episode with my depression triggered again for the rest of the night. I'm not sure how I feel about the last beat of the ending but that last act was one of the best narrative experiences I've had with a game in a long time. The part that kind of blew me away was that I was in the vast minority for every choice in the episode except except the first one. I'm never wholly on one side but I'm never that much to the other side either. That's...unsettling.

Oh also:

Spoiler:

The part where you're approaching the hotel, cutting down the horde while they upbeat music played? That was so damn empowering. I was like "f*ck YEAH zombie killin' mofo!"

Fantastic beginning and ending for this episode. I got really emotional at the end, heavy stuff. Hopefully this is not a spoiler but just in case.

Spoiler:

Will my save file will be used for season 2? I don't think TellTale has said anything about it.

GOTY and maybe my personal favorite game of all time. I'll have to let it sit for awhile before it knocks off my 12 year old reigning champion, Deus Ex. This game actually made me more of an adventure game fan. Probably the one of the hardiest genres for me to get into.

Mystic Violet wrote:

Finished Episode 5 last night. Was left disappointed.

Spoiler:

I teared up a bit during Lee's final moments and we opted to prevent him from turning. After that, the screen went dark and the credits rolled. The instant lack of closure killed whatever feelings I had about Lee's death and Clem's "survival."

After the credits, we watched Clem walking in the countryside. Alone. Questions start racing through our heads from "Where is Christa and Omid?" to "How did she get out there by herself?" It seems like having Clementine end up alone was the plan all along. Kenny and Ben die. I don't know if Omid can die from his infection in Episode 4 but Christa and Omid can decide not to go with Lee at the end. Judging by Clem's reaction to the two people off in the distance, she doesn't know who they are. Her look of terror as the "To Be Continued!" screen didn't help. TellTale was dangling a terrified Clem in front of me and they're like "If you want to see your precious Clementine again, buy Season 2!" and I'm all "No, please! Don't hurt Clem!" [TITLE SCREEN WITH MANIACAL LAUGHTER]

I would've preferred a concrete ending to this Season regardless of where Season 2 goes.

BTW, placeholder text in the Stats menu? Ouch. That's gotta sting a little.

Spoiler:

I like downbeat endings where things don't work out as they should (as long as they fit with the story.) The fact that they didn't meet up with Christa and Omid felt realistic to me and a great choice. I was half expecting Clem to go on and find them on her own though. I did like the last scene, a tiny, nervous little figure in that vast empty landscape, but, yeah, I choose to believe that the two distant figures were moving with too much purpose to be zombies and that all she had to do was fire the gun to call them over. Anything else doesn't bare consideration.

Latrine wrote:

Also this episode did a really great job of making it feel like your choices really mattered. Even though it would shatter the illusion, I really want to know how things could play out differently.

I'm in the same position. I do and don't want to play through the last episode again.

Latrine wrote:
Spoiler:

What happens if you cut off your arm? What happens to Kenny if you killed Ben at Crawford? What if you let Christa and Omid cross the sign first?

Spoiler:

I can't help you on the arm (to me it seemed too late anyway and I kept it. I can't imagine climbing all those friggin' ladders with one arm!) I can't help with Kenny either but I did send Christa and Omid first. They made it across before the sign collapsed. We agreed to meet later and I went down the broken sign to the street. I'm guessing it's similar the other way around.

Hollowheel wrote:

Well looks like Telltale has another series of save game bugs with this one. I loaded my Steam game only to see that it lost a bunch of progress in Episode 4. I replayed it only to find that suddenly Episode 5 was listed as coming soon. If I restart the game, Episode five is listed as installed, but if I try to run it, I can only use default choices.

I tried a number of fixes on the Telltale forums. Nothing worked. Sure would be nice if there were some sort of official reply from the company before the holiday, but it doesn't seem likely.

This has really soured my experience.

Hollowheel wrote:

Well looks like Telltale has another series of save game bugs with this one. I loaded my Steam game only to see that it lost a bunch of progress in Episode 4. I replayed it only to find that suddenly Episode 5 was listed as coming soon. If I restart the game, Episode five is listed as installed, but if I try to run it, I can only use default choices.

I tried a number of fixes on the Telltale forums. Nothing worked. Sure would be nice if there were some sort of official reply from the company before the holiday, but it doesn't seem likely.

This has really soured my experience.

Exact same thing happened to me.

The following link fixed the issue http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/... - I hope you have the same luck. Scroll to the top.

Love the game, but Telltale appear to have a bunch of amateur game programmers at the helm. Why in the heck they have two different sources for save game settings I don't know.

I find all these game save bugs interesting, as I experienced none on the PS3. I wonder if it's a closed platform and thus less susceptible to being buggy in comparison to various different PCs? Telltale seems like a PC-first developer, though, so it just seems a bit surprising.

I did experience a couple of bugs myself, one that required me to quit out and resume at the last save. Nothing major, though.

Higgledy wrote:
Spoiler:

I like downbeat endings where things don't work out as they should (as long as they fit with the story.) The fact that they didn't meet up with Christa and Omid felt realistic to me and a great choice. I was half expecting Clem to go on and find them on her own though. I did like the last scene, a tiny, nervous little figure in that vast empty landscape, but, yeah, I choose to believe that the two distant figures were moving with too much purpose to be zombies and that all she had to do was fire the gun to call them over. Anything else doesn't bare consideration.

Spoiler:

I'm just not a fan of open-ended non-endings. After everything was said and done, I had more questions than answers.

One important lesson this game has taught us: survivors can be worse than the zombies. Even if those figures are living people, she's still in a potentially dangerous situation. I'd be happy to know that they aren't walkers. I'd be happier to know they aren't bandits or psychotics either. Not so much downbeat for me, simply up in the air.

Spoiler:

To be fair, I don't think closure was the goal of that final scene. I think the intention was the uncertainty. I mean, my empathy sensors were exploding as I watched that. I mean, just....gah! That was the hardest scene for me to watch throughout the whole game, and I think that was the intention. This little girl you were taking care of, trying to protect from all these bad things, and now she's all alone in an empty world with the knowledge that her parents and surrogate father are dead (and she had to pull the trigger on the latter right after discussing the former).

We're talking a moment when a full blown adult would be considering pulling the trigger on themselves, and here she is, 9 years old, sitting there alone in complete uncertainty.

I'm pretty sure the point isn't closure at all, but to drive you nuts with how bad a situation it not only is, but how bad a situation it is for a child.