[Evinshir]

Originally Posted by voodoohandbag

There is a difference between constructive criticism and just acting butt-hurt and hating the company. Any artist should be willing to listen to criticism in order to improve, that's obvious. I'm assuming this thread was started after the OP read the venting thread, which, while people have good points, many posts are over the top in their hatred. There's nothing wrong with a thread that counters another, especially since a few posts there said to defenders that they shouldn't be there, as it is a 'venting' thread.

I have to say - I have not seen that much over the top hatred at all. What I *have* seen is a lot of "this game is flawless, stop being so butthurt" type stuff in the venting thread.

I don't think there's anybody that can't 'handle' the negative comments. People just want to share their opinions.

Sharing your opinion is not a defence against having that opinion questioned. I see a lot of "it's just my opinion" being used as if it was some kind of talisman against being challenged over what you said. As long as people are civil, they should be able to question each other's arguments. From both sides of the issue regarding the ending of the series.

I don't know; I've just never felt it was my place to complain about what we are given. For me, there are positives and negatives in everything, even my favourite games ever. Everything has flaws. I'm just happy to have experienced what I perceive to be an exceptional story.

That's an unusual position to hold and one I see being presented more and more often in gaming. The fact is, you paid money for this game. That gives you the right to complain if what you paid for was not what you felt you were promised.

Never be afraid to complain about the things that didn't work for you, even if you loved most of it. Just be civil about it and make sure you mention that *did* work as well.

Like I said, the voice acting and the writing was fantastic. I loved the aesthetic and style of the game. But I'm not going to be shy in saying that if they want to have choices in the game, then those choices should matter and that I did not feel that they did matter in this game.

Saying everything has flaws doesn't mean you should politely ignore them. It means you should point them out to help with identifying them. Especially if you forked out cash - regards of whether it was $2 or $200.

What I am against, though, is being rude about it. Like the guys who say "the writing was crap" or "this was s**t" - that's not helpful.

For example, I thought the writing was great... but it had its flaws. The Stranger was a weak plot device and needed a lot more development to make him work as a twist in the tale. As it was presented, he's too contrived and upon scrutiny his presence and actions raise far too many awkward questions.

But I wouldn't call it lazy writing. The Catalyst in Mass Effect 3 was lazy writing. At least The Stranger was foreshadowed and there was some attempt to give his motivations a link to the overall story.

And I too loved the parallels to Episode 1 in the final scene between Lee and Clem.

My biggest beef is that none of your choices changed anyone's fate. Clem ends up in the same place regardless, Ben still dies, Kenny still dies, Lilly still leaves the group, Doug AND Carly both die just in a different order after both helping at the exact same time to get the exact same result...

Choices do matter, and the idea that nothing we do has any impact is not a realistic view of the world.

The biggest problem is that too many companies have done the "choices don't really matter but we'll claim they do" gameplay before. Honestly, there is little about The Walking Dead that is actually innovative or revolutionary. Good storytelling, good voice acting, a touching story - these have all been done before and in one package. That TTG did it really well is great, but they still made the same "choices don't matter" mistake - and for a lot of gamers like me, we're kind of sick and tired of being promised that a game is going to be tailored to a personal experience only to end up being the same experience with mild cosmetic changes.

Especially when Heavy Rain, The Witcher, The Witcher 2, Alpha Protocol, Fallout: New Vegas and the like have all shown that you *can* make choices cause big narrative ripples without undoing the strength of the narrative - and in the case of Witcher 2 it makes the game much more personal because your choices greatly change how things play out. (To the tune of 16 possible unique endings.)