Episode 4 emotional impact

[IndigoHawk]

After episode 3, it's unwise to have emotional attachment to characters. I wanted to see how Telltale would address this in episode 4, and I'd like to know how other people viewed and responded to the emotional impacts in this episode.

I didn't care about the dog or the zombie kid. Both scenes went on too long, especially the burial. I cared about helping Kenny face the kid and shoot him, but otherwise the kid is just another victim in a long list, and the dog is just a way into the house. I felt bad that the kid starved to death, because that is unusually horrible. However, that didn't make it any harder to put the zombie kid down.

I didn't care about Chuck dying. When he said he would take care of himself, I expected him to die. I was glad he got to use a bullet on himself so that he wouldn't come back as a walker.

I didn't care about Brie dying. Her death was graphically disturbing, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. I agreed with Vernon that I didn't feel much. I liked that bit of writing, as it shows that Telltale realizes that some people aren't broken up bad about these deaths anymore.

I didn't care about Omid (not) dying. I still expect him to die. Even with meds, he probably just got a temporary reprieve. It's nice that he lived, but not a big deal, since he's still on borrowed time.

I didn't care about the pregnant woman in the video, but I liked that it gave insight into Christa's character. After the description of what Crawford was like, that choice given in the video seemed about what someone would expect.

I expect Lee to die in episode 5, so having him bit isn't that big of a deal.

So, Telltale wrote episode 4 as though people should care about things that don't matter anymore, but it wasn't too bad. Instead, the episode dealt with other things, like finding a boat, getting supplies, meeting new characters, investigating Crawford, and having a few small interactions with the stalker.

As for things that I still care about, episode 4 further developed the relationships in the group, and Lee got to be more of a leader. Probably the best emotional impact came from Lee's protectiveness of Clem, especially Lee's response to Clem's abduction.

[Rock114]

I was attached to Clem and Kenny, and felt horrible for killing Ben. Looks like their writing worked for me.

[BlindOptimism]

I found it to be rather Ben-centric, which, if you'd told me immediately after Episode 3, I'd have huffed and puffed about, but I liked how his character was slowly 'bullied' and broken down into believing that his life was worthless, only to be given one final chance at redemption (in my version, anyway).

[StreetsAhead24]

I wasn't particularly attached to any of the new characters in episode 4. Rather I was more disturbed and appalled at what happened. E.g. like the crawford people and the tapes.

I did find Chuck, Molly, and Vernon to be interesting and thought Chuck's departure was wasted potential.

Though the ending made my heart sink :( I mean I kind of expected something like that to happen but I was hoping that it wouldn't come to that. It really made me feel for Lee and Clem

[IndigoHawk]

I found it to be rather Ben-centric, which, if you'd told me immediately after Episode 3, I'd have huffed and puffed about, but I liked how his character was slowly 'bullied' and broken down into believing that his life was worthless, only to be given one final chance at redemption (in my version, anyway).

I wonder if Ben will make good on that chance. I say Ben will fail miserably at his one last chance for redemption, getting someone killed. Then Lee will realize the mistake he made not killing him.

[IndigoHawk]

I wasn't particularly attached to any of the new characters in episode 4. Rather I was more disturbed and appalled at what happened. E.g. like the crawford people and the tapes.

Interesting. I didn't have much of a response to Crawford. They set themselves up for survival above all else, so I expected them to be monsters who turn out children, elderly, sickly, weak, and force people to have abortions. Their desire to survive by whatever means necessary was something I had already seen with the St Johns. Crawford was just more honest. It would be like if the St Johns told people that any group who wanted to work on their farm had to donate someone for dinner.

It's also interesting that even with all of their precautions, Crawford still couldn't survive. This reinforces that long term survival is a pointless objective in TWD ... or that Crawford was actually too merciful, and should have forced sterilization before pregnancy became an issue.

[StreetsAhead24]

Agreed. It's amazing how no matter how ruthlessly efficient and foolproof the system is, just one variable can cause an influx of chaos and destruction. It just goes to show that you could never truly be safe if a ZA were to occur.

[Master of Aeons]

Despite everything, I couldn't help but love Molly.

[Viner16]

So much Potential in Chuck... we only had one in-depth convo after the disaster revolving Kenny in Ep 3.

[Zeruis]

Here is the reason why I stopped reading the comics. Tyreese, Abraham, and Glenn were great characters. But then Kirkman just kills them off. You can't establish relationships with any of the characters because of this.

[Freeze]

First off , I love this game and at times it really does shine. But This is why I think Season 2 might not be so great. People aren't going to care anymore. I also feel like they wrote themselves into a corner. In this season they basically covered major events that happen in the comic. We've seen the zombie threat , cannibals , human threat and the attempt to find a safe haven. Unless Kirkman himself gets involved with the game I can't see Telltale doing anything but have the same journey but with a different cast seeing as they can't establish anywhere past 2 years in the post apocalyptic world so there can't be a Future Clementine protagonist. I hope I will be proved wrong however.

[Macon Bacon]

I played ep 4 right after I finished ep 3 (played late) and after what happened to Carley, Duck, and Katjaa, everything went downhill for me emotionally. A lot of the core group was gone, four members going into ep 4 alongside a broken Kenny. I just couldn't connect with the new people because I didn't have time to grieve for the old ones. I feel the same way as IndigoHawk, the burial of the zombie kid was unnecessarily long. I did feel bad for him but as Vernon said, you kind of just get used to this way of life.

What I love about this game is that it can really incite an emotional connection to the characters in such a short time. I mean I was satisfied with my crew during ep 2 and seeing half of them get waxed in ep 3 definitely gave me a sulking feeling. And Lee's bite even though not completely unexpected just made me feel like there is no hope left. Poor Clem if she makes it.

I do think that season 2 can still be good even with a new cast. If/once we get closure on this one we will always remember but in the next season can and most likely will do the same thing as this one; create emotional bonds between the characters and audience. As long as you are willing to accept new people, you should enjoy another experience through season 2 because I'm sure they can come up with new situations that hasn't been explored. I think it would be cool to be able to select your character this time, and the other options of playable characters become part of your group.