Telltale's The Walking Dead: The Game

[JezMM]

To be fair, aren't Microsoft an utter bitch to release stuff through digitally, patches included?  And we have no idea what behind the scenes may cause a patch to be unfeasible to solve the issue.

 

I think their solutions are fairly reasonable when they could have say, not done anything at all and only offered option 1.

 

 

If you paid $10 more for the retail version when it contains the exact same content as the download version, what difference does it make that you now... DON'T have to get a disc off your shelf and put it in to play?

Edited January 10, 2013 by JezMM

[Xenos]

I might have said this before, don't think so but it kind of irks me so I'll say it.

 

I kind of wished they took more liberties in how the game looks. I know they were trying to stay faithful to the comics but sometimes characters don't emote in expression and movement as fluent as I had hoped they would, and environments and characters themselves could look gritty and murky. I know it's a zombie apocalypse but the characters shouldn't look  that dirty!

 

Although it's just a minor nitpick from me, the game is still awesome.

[Carbo]

To be fair, aren't Microsoft an utter bitch to release stuff through digitally, patches included?  And we have no idea what behind the scenes may cause a patch to be unfeasible to solve the issue.

 

I think their solutions are fairly reasonable when they could have say, not done anything at all and only offered option 1.

 

 

If you paid $10 more for the retail version when it contains the exact same content as the download version, what difference does it make that you now... DON'T have to get a disc off your shelf and put it in to play?

 

$40 000 for one patch

[JezMM]

Fuckingggg hell.  I was under the impression the first one was free but maybe they were stingy and treated the retail and downloadable versions as the same thing and thus the offer didn't apply.

 

 

I might have said this before, don't think so but it kind of irks me so I'll say it.
 
I kind of wished they took more liberties in how the game looks. I know they were trying to stay faithful to the comics but sometimes characters don't emote in expression and movement as fluent as I had hoped they would, and environments and characters themselves could look gritty and murky. I know it's a zombie apocalypse but the characters shouldn't look  that dirty!
 
Although it's just a minor nitpick from me, the game is still awesome.

 

I actually thought the game was pretty clean and vibrant looking compared to the comics!  (Though it helps that it's in colour as oppose to black and white).  The character designs though certainly felt more cartoony in the game.

Edited January 11, 2013 by JezMM

[Autosaver]

How many people actually own the 4GB Xbox anymore?

 

Seems like something that only impacts a small amount of users. Paying over 40 grand to fix an issue for a small group of people seems excessive. Shift the blame on Microsoft. At least Nintendo (and I think Sony) give patches for free.

 

I also think complaining about getting a download copy is being whiny. You're pretty much getting ANOTHER copy for free and you are free to do anything with the retail. This means you could return it, sell it, give it away, etc.

[SuperStingray]

So I'm kind of OD'd on the zombie phenom that's been going on for the past few years, and the Walking Dead TV series wasn't able to hold my attention for more than 3 episodes.  But then I heard this adaptation Telltale made was so incredibly amazing and so I caved and gave it a try.  And now I'm fresh off the last episode, so you'll have to excuse any typos I made here because I can't see very well through my tears.

[Brad]

How many people actually own the 4GB Xbox anymore?

 

Seems like something that only impacts a small amount of users. Paying over 40 grand to fix an issue for a small group of people seems excessive. Shift the blame on Microsoft. At least Nintendo (and I think Sony) give patches for free.

 

I also think complaining about getting a download copy is being whiny. You're pretty much getting ANOTHER copy for free and you are free to do anything with the retail. This means you could return it, sell it, give it away, etc.

Pretty much this on the whole retail fiasco. You're essentially getting a downloadable code and working retail game all in one. You could get the entire thing free essentially. 

 

Anyway to shift the topic toward Season Two discussion; even though I appreciate that Telltale wants our choices from Season One to count I really hope the next season brings us totally new characters, possibly a year after the events of the first? I'd want a fresh new take with new storylines and ideas and dynamics. 

And I never want to control Clementine either. If I did, what was the point of everything I taught her as Lee? If anything this game could take a direction of you playing as multiple characters in different seasons who teach Clementine - and keep helping her learning until we get a "Clementine Arc" finale where there's a crucial choice which will alter in multiple ways depending on how she has been shaped by her experiences.

 

Just my two cents. Thoughts?

[JezMM]

Urgh I'm really not sure at all what they're gonna do.  If I was in charge of writing Season Two I'd be like "fucccck where do we even start".

 

(Stuff in spoilers wouldn't make sense/would cause "implication" spoilers if you haven't finished Season One).

I can sympathise with not wanting to control Clem, although at the same time the idea of someone just replacing Lee as her carer would feel really lame somehow.

 

I don't know if I'd mind controlling Clem, at least partially.  The way you controlled her through Lee telling her what to do in the final scene of Episode 5 almost felt like a "Passing of the torch" moment to me to be honest so... yeah.

Edited January 13, 2013 by JezMM

[Conando]

I don't see why this is terrible, or even all that bad. TellTale is giving the people affected a digital copy of the game, yes? I know it's kind of lame that you have to download that, and have a hard drive or whatever for it but, TellTale isn't exactly the most wealthy company out there, so I think this is pretty good. (I'm sure it wouldn't be an issue if not for patches costing 40,000 a pop)

Edited January 13, 2013 by King Of Awesome

[Covskin]

So, I bought this when Steam had it half-price a couple of weeks ago, and just played through Episode 5 this morning.

 

Telltale, you have finally fufilled your potential.

 

I've played a decent amount of their previous output - the three Series of Sam & Max, SBCG4AP, and Monkey Island. The same problems could be found in each (though Sam & Max 3 was certainly an improvement). I didn't like any of their original characters. Some episodes would feel like filler. Certain puzzles not being as organic as they should be.

 

I can't say any of those things about The Walking Dead.

 

From the very first conversation with Clementine, all I wanted to do was keep her safe. Not because of a video game objective; because she's a sweet little girl in a horrible world and needs protecting.

 

Pretty much every decision I made was influenced by her - like Jez, I didn't take the supplies from the car. I didn't want to take her to Crawford, but she talked me into it. I killed Dan in Episode 2 - if I'd known Clementine would see me do it, I'd have spared the bastard. I saved Ben each time (though I was trying to keep as many people alive as possible, her support in Episode 4 helped).

 

Episode 5 was one hard moment after another. And that post-credits scene...damn.

 

When Season 2 comes out, I don't think I'll be able to play one Episode a month. The tension would kill me. I'd have to buy the complete season and blitz through it. But despite that - I want to know Clem is safe, dammit.

[Tani Coyote]

I watched a playthrough on Youtube; the story as always is incredible.

 

While many people hate on Zombie fiction, I try to explain the Walking Dead is different. Whereas most zombie franchises brutally murder characters and just increase body count, TWD actually makes you care about the characters.

 

...THEN it brutally murders them. Kirkman is a sadistic beast.

 

Definitely looking forward to Season 2.

[-Mark-]

So, got these at the start of the month and just finished the final episode yesterday. 

 

Before I chuck everything in a spoiler tag, let me just say my overall impressions of it is that it's absolutely awesome. I won't even say 'a few minor nitpicks aside', because, whilst there were a few, they were minor enough in comparison that they didn't hinder my enjoyment of the game overall. 

 

Okay, admittedly, I did suspect something like the ending happening kinda early on. I mean, I wasn't sure, but I did kinda wonder if Lee would get bitten at all and such. I will say though, one of my biggest nitpicks is actually the circumstances under which he eventually

is bitten; he's gone through a countless fuckton of zombies to this point and come out unscathed, then one just gets in an almost laughably cheap shot at an otherwise totally calm moment.

 

I did feel Episode 4 was probably the weakest, though; it felt more like a buildup to the finale rather than having much happen all in itself. Admittedly after Episode 3 most of the 'original' cast from early on are dead so it does kind of lose a little bit of impact because most of the people you're travelling with at this point haven't been with you for very long so you don't really know them all that well enough to care too much. It does feel like the cast is a lot more drop-in, drop-out for much of the second half. Characters are introduced and subsequently killed off much more quickly.

 

I need to leave for work soon, so more comments later. 

 

I will say though, this needs to become a meme if it isn't already;

 

 

Seriously I just repeated that same bit like ten times in a row just for lulz.

[iheartpandas]

This is a fantastic game. I love how there's so much characther development throughout the episodes. The show is great, but there is absolutely no doubt The Walking Dead Video Game is by far, 10 times better. Storyline wise, it's amazing and the fact you can connect with the characters makes the gaming experience more rich! Totally looking forward to Season 2 like many of you. 
 

 

Although, it's kinda bittersweet, isn't it? I'm totally missing Lee. Did I cry? Heck yes! Like a little baby. I agree with the user above about episode 4 being the weakest, but it definitely was the saddest for me. Clementine seeing her parents as walkers, Lee getting bitten, leaving Clem (and me) alone, the huge Ben and Kenny conflict. I kinda predicted a ending like this as well, I was putting myself in denial though.  

Lee's probably up there for one of my favorite video game characters of all time. 

 

 

 

[-Mark-]

I should also mention that Ben is pretty much my favourite character, actually.

 

I just love how he starts off as some nobody who spends most of the series as the complete underdog and being the butt of everyone's jokes and everything is his fault, then he finally stands up to Kenny near the end. Then just after they've come to some kind of mutual understanding, they both die. D: Hell, Ben is written out of the episode he's introduced in.

 

But yeah, I think Ben is probably one of the more realistic characters in the series, and almost certainly the one I can relate to the most.

 

Lily was also one of my favourites, so seeing her... 'fall from grace' was quite saddening and disappointing. Especially since I also liked Carly a lot, too.

[PeanutButterDimond]

New content before season two is possible. http://www.latinospost.com/articles/13000/20130226/walking-dead-game-season-2-still-early.htm

[Blue Wisp]

A season interlude or something? Maybe starring Clementine or something and leading to Season 2? Either way, I'm excited to see what it can be.

[Gabz Girl]

I have this on the iPad, I'm already at chapter 5 and mind you, I'm not a big fan of point and click games but this one is actually good. Damn good! There's so much characterisation and story that the overshadows the fact I'm not really playing a game but an interactive movie. I'm still not sure if it deserved GOTY at Spike Awards, but it's certainly not bad. I'd like to see more of this series, that's for sure!

 

Btw, who did you choose when

Carly/Doug was shot by that bitch Lily?

I abandoned her! I couldn't believe it when the percentages at the end showed me that the majority took her right back in. WTF? >=/

[Brad]

So, that news about Fall 2014 for Season Two? Slightly inaccurate.

 

"Telltale’s The Walking Dead Season Two On Track For Release This Fall"

 

Rumors swirled today about the release window for Season Two of Telltale’s The Walking Dead. It sparked after Eurogamer's interview with Telltale CEO Dan Connors after The Walking Dead Season One was awarded the Best Story BAFTA Game Award. When asked about the release of the next season of The Walking Dead, according to Eurogamer, Dan Connors responded, “We’re aiming for fall of next year.” This made it seem like it was releasing in fall of 2014. 

We reached out to Telltale Games to get confirmation if we’d really have to wait that long to see the fate of our favorite characters. Telltale responded with the following statement:

"The current estimated release window for Season Two of The Walking Dead is for fall of ‘this’ year (2013), and not ‘next’ year (2014) as has been reported after a recent interview. We apologize for any confusion and thank you and all of our fans for your continued excitement for Telltale’s series."

I’m sure fans of The Walking Dead all just breathed a sigh of relief; after all, season one ended with some lingering questions and we just can’t wait that long to see what happens at the top of that hill.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/03/06/telltale-s-the-walking-dead-season-two-on-track-for-release-this-fall.aspx

[JezMM]

I'm a pretty patient gamer but can't help but be happy to hear it's sooner than 2014.  Fantastic.

[SuperStingray]

I'm a pretty patient gamer but can't help but be happy to hear it's sooner than 2014.  Fantastic.

I'm not surprised.  Between their streamlined engine and episodic structure, Telltale is pretty efficient.

 

Although I would like to see more Sam & Max and SBCG4AP sooner or later...

Edited March 7, 2013 by Metal Gear (sting)RAY

[Pelly <3's U]

I actually just started to play this game at work...so we'll see how it goes

 

I've had to play on mute the entire time haha, so starting it again with sound will be a bit of a shock

[Pelly <3's U]

Ok so I played it, and I almost hate to say this but

 

I'm not that impressed

 

Ok Ok maybe it's that The Walking Dead just doesn't do it for me. I've tried to get into the comics, TV show, and now the game. I'm not going to say I wasn't entertained by it, because I was....but somewhere along the line I really just kind of stopped caring so much.

 

Like ehhh, it was ok....but after hearing so many good things about it I was really hoping for more.

 

As far as gameplay goes it's utterly awful. I mean, it's not like I expected it to have good gameplay mechanics so I'm not too fussed. about this actually. The quick-time events and the shoot/punch/kick this person in the head in x seconds were basically an annoyance to me, but like I said I wasn't fussed on that because whatever, I'm playing it for the story.

 

But even the story was eh to me.

 

I guess I just got annoyed with it's tendency to veer into the melodramatic. Yes, I get the whole point of The Walking Dead is all 'we're the real monsters' but it just got to be a little much for me. I'll be honest, I think it kind of all went downhill during episode 2. I spent the entire time hoping that they wouldn't make the dairy farmers a bunch of insane cannibals, and of course they were. Then all the stuff with the stalker guy in the end? Like his whole story just seemed so far fetched to me. Like in the end what it was all leading up to was not a fight among ourselves or zombies or whatever, but some random over powered crazy wannabe dad to Clementine? I mean I thought the drama and tension would come from trying to cope with survival withen a group of clashing characters stuck in a situation way over their heads......not wacky supervillian-esque hijinks. Stuff like that just kept taking me out of the story.

 

As far as the characters, which were supposed to be what we got attached too...I wasn't crazy about most of them either. Almost all of them just seemed like stereotypes, some of them much worse than others. The mom character in particular was bad for me, it seems like stories can never take a mom and make her anything beyond a nice nurturing sensible blah person. I literally didn't even realize she was from a different country until episode 3, that's how bland she was to me. 

 

I guess in some ways I would have felt differently if my relationships with them seemed genuinely affected by what I did, but that's one of my biggest criticisms of the game. For all the choices I make and all the little pop ups in the corner telling me stuff.....it didn't actually all seem like it added up to anything. Like character relations wise or story wise.

 

Here are a couple examples:

 

Lilly and her dad- I actually really didn't like how it always came down to Lilly or Ken for the first part of the game, because I didn't like either for the most part. But with Lilly, I sided against her and her dad in Ep 1. So her dad tries to leave me behind, whatever and I get out. Ep 2 I stuck up for her a couple times and gave her one of the days rations, later she just basically bitched me out for not giving her dad stuff and was a grump to me. Then I tried to save her dad, and after that I thought we were set up to actually have a good character relationship that would build from there.......except she went crazy and stole the RV. The whole problem I have with this is, literally nothing I could have picked would have changed any of this, from now spoiling the choices for me. I get that when you play through the game you're not supposed to know that this will happen when you're choosing who to side with but.....fuck, it just made me feel like what's the point. I mean the same thing with her dad, no matter what you do he tries to leave you behind in Ep 1, I get he didn't like you because you were a murderer, but it doesn't exactly give you the sense there's a lot of weight in these difficult choices you make.

 

Kenny and his family- I have the same crits of Ken as a lot of people do, that unless you agree with him 100% of the time he gets this weird dislike of you. I thought I did agree with him all throughout Ep 1, but for some reason in Ep 2 he started bitching to me about how I hated Duck because the first time we got in a shouting match with Lilly's dad I decided to say 'let's reason with him' before I told him not to kill Duck. Then after I didn't kill Lilly's dad that was it, he just acted like we were enemies for the rest of the game. WTF? It was another frustration with the choice system, because I honestly felt like there was a large leap between my actions and what the story was telling me happened. 

 

Doug and girl who wasn't Doug- I actually wanted to save the girl because she had a gun, but the one spoiler I remembered hearing was that she died....so I picked Doug. But whoops, they literally have almost the exact same death scene, so once again I was left with a choice that I didn't feel impacted the game very much. Maybe there were some pretty different scenes in the story depending on whether I saved her or Doug, but I somehow doubt it was anything that huge. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel I would have got the camera scene regardless. 

 

Ben- Fuck him

 

Clementine was fine, but I still don't really know how much my choices with her had an impact on anything. Then there just was a bunch of other people and fuck I didn't care too much by that point. I guess with how the choice system was toted out, I just don't see how it had that huge of an impact on my game. It didn't seem like it majorly impacted the story in any way, and it also didn't seem to affect how anything happened with the characters that much either (other than making me want to punch them).

 

I guess for how much I'm ranting it really seems like I hated the game, but it was mildly entertaining and I'd play the season 2.........It just felt kind of disappointing. 

[JezMM]

Responding to various things from Pelly:

 

 

The choices were never meant to be about drastically changing the story, if you expected them to be I can understand your frustration. Just about the characters themselves, though I concede if you don't care for the characters that's not much use lol.  Obviously they couldn't have a massively branching story, though the final episode does have a number of totally different scenes depending on who is still alive.

 

 

As for your "Fuck Ben" comment... I take it you let him die in ep 4?  Because he hits you with some reality about himself HARD in episode 5 if you left him alive.  But hey what goes around comes around.

 

The choices do change a LOT with regards to dialogue, there are tons of different conversations in the game.  You kinda need to watch someone else play to appreciate them unfortunately (I'd never play it again myself, at least not for a long time, because I feel like it'll cheapen "my" version of the story to do it all over with Lee being a totally different person to who I made him first time).

 

But yeah Ep 2 was a bit crap generally.  It's so weird and out of place compared to the rest of the episodes.

 

Still, you would be surprised how often the story does have entirely unique scenes just for certain playthroughs.  Kenny's death is entirely different depending on whether Ben is alive or not in ep5.  Choosing to travel by day or night at the start when you meet Clem results in two totally different scenes on how you get to Hershel's farm, etc.

[Tani Coyote]

I've watched Let's Plays. Really touching story. Kirkman and his affiliates are masters at endearing characters to you, and then pretty much tearing your heart out.

 

I always thought that's what separates TWD from the other zombie flicks: you usually just shrug when most zombie characters die. But the Walking Dead builds them up over many many episodes/issues/etc. and then just finally offs them. Usually unceremoniously at times. It's actually morbidly refreshing.

 

Looking forward to Season 2. Since the games and comics are the same canon, I wonder if Negan will make an appearance by chance...

[Pelly <3's U]

To Jez

 

I think in the beginning I could have cared about the characters, if the story had been different. I was set to care about Lilly and then she went crazy. I wanted to care about Kenny but he kept acting like we hated each other when I was basically nice to him the whole time. Later characters were ok, like Omar and Christa but the former was MIA so often and by that point I didn't feel I had much of a stake in things. Doug was probably the closest for a character that felt like one who I had a bond with, but him being not around for most of Ep 2 actually hurt that, because by the time he died in Ep 3 I felt like I had hardly seen him. I actually really cared about Mark for some reason haha, and really was upset when he was offed. I think it's because he had interesting interactions with Lee and also loyalty towards me, so I guess I should have seen the writing on the wall then =P. But ultimately the time I spent with him would have probably been better spent with Doug or something just to give me more on an attachment.....though I concede I don't have the fairest views here since I initially wanted to save the girl and was kind of forced into saving Doug because I didn't realize they both had the same death scene.

 

Also no I saved Ben, and I guess his whole 'Wham' speech was dramatic and all, but by that point it was just too late for his character. I mean in the episode he joined up in we learned almost nothing about him, then episode 3 came along and while Lilly was accusing him of stuff I honestly didn't care that much because I hardly knew him....and even from that point on I felt like there was just a huge void in his character. I guess in Ep 5 you were supposed to be like 'oh man finally Ben has some character' but for me I wanted to actually get to know him through the game which I never felt like I did. 

 

I get that the dialog changes a bit and there are some different scenes based on your actions, but considering how every episode starts with 'This game plays out based off all your choices' or whatever I kind of expected more. I mean different dialog? I've seen that in so many games at this point. I concede that the changing Kenny death scene is an example of something I would have liked to see more in the game, but actually I would have really liked maybe something I do along the way save Kenny, or have him die at a different point. I felt like a lot of my choices had no impact. Stuff like that is probably extremely hard to do from a game design standpoint so I get that, but I guess in a lot of ways it doesn't feel like 'my unique story' considering I don't feel like I had that much of an impact on it.

 

There was stuff I liked, such as when you had to choose between saving Omar and Christa they actually both lived. I would like to try this game again when season 2 comes out, but it's going to have to be a case of either they change a lot of stuff from the development side or more likely I go in with a different perspective