[SPOILERS]The Walking Dead episode 5 and entire game REVIEW thread

[dee23]

Originally Posted by mkane24

Am i the only of super disappointed how short this episode was?

I agree. It was way too short. Telltale should have had multiple endings to make up for the fact that the episode was only 90 minutes.

[dee23]

Originally Posted by BlindOptimism

Maybe my hopes were too high, but I found episode 5 to be a disappointment. It seems like several pages of narrative got cut, leaving us with bits and pieces of story and decisions that don't matter. I'm not even talking about ambiguous stuff. I mean, I hated the epilogue, but I at least understand what they were going for when they wrote it, but it's the gaps in the story that I don't like.

- The whole "who comes with you" thing at the end of chapter 4 was pointless - 10 minutes later we're all back together again and everyone's as loyal as ever.
- Shouting orders to the whole group. "Oh man, this is going to be so cool! I'm making tactical decisions!" *two seconds later* "Everyone to the front door!"
- Everyone knew Christa was pregnant without ever talking about it. Yes, it was obvious, but there was no 'reaction' - Lee said, "you're carrying for two" and Christa was like just, "Whatever." Why the ambiguity?
- Campman was a rubbish villain. Completely underwhelming and nonsensical. "I'm not crazy...but I hate you for every difficult decision you've had to make, regardless of what you chose". Just...no.
- Would have been nice to have seen what happened to Vernon's group, even fleetingy, from a distance. Would the boat have worked? Probably not, but they just disappeared. Couldn't we have spotted them sailing away/getting attacked from our position on the rooftops? In fact, the whole, "the surviving cancer patients that HATED the way Crawford ran things coming back and beating up people and stealing their boat" thing felt out of place.
- Clem dragging Lee away from a group of walkers? No.
- Lee collapsing several times during the episode was frustrating. I've never seen a person react to a zombie bite THAT badly. Sure, you get weaker and stuff, but...random bouts of sudden unconsciousness? Skeptical.
- The very last moment before the credits. I'm not saying I want to know every single detail, but Clem manages to avoid the walkers and get into the countryside...how? Did she meet with O+C by the train? Did she meet them...at all? That's not ambiguity, it's just vague for the intention of being vague and thus, unsatisfying. She escaped, but I have absolutely no idea how. There's no closure to this story. No "everyone died", or "I saved the day", or even, "the future is uncertain, but we did our best". No, in my story, Lee dies and then Clem magically teleports to the countryside.

In fact, the entire episode seemed to be devoid of emotion, to me. B+K's deaths, the 'reveal' of the bite to Clementine, Clem's reaction to seeing her dead parents. Even when you rescue Clem from Campman, she's just like, "oh hai, Lee" *shrug*. Things just happen and everyone instantly moves on. I wanted to find the ending sad, but I just couldn't. It didn't feel like the right moment. As with everything else, it was a little unsatisfying. "I wasn't able to save you...but goodbye anyway." *credits*

IMO, they shouldn't have gone for the 'to be continued' ending. That makes things way too complicated. This should have been an enclosed story. Lee's Redemption - the chance to protect a little girl from the zombie apocalypse. In the end, it happened, but I have no idea how.

Don't get me wrong, it's not WHAT happened that I'm complaining about, but HOW it happened. Lee can still die. Clem can still be alone (if she's alone. I'm still not sure). Just...without the huge gaps and the rushed bits.

As I said, maybe I expected too much. The high review scores and the reactions on Twitter whetted my appetite, but it didn't live up to the hype. It was an 'OK' chapter when I was desperate for it to be a masterpiece.

On a final note, the game would probably get a higher rating if it wasn't for the technical issues suffered during every single chapter. Sorry, but those problems are too critical and too widespread to give the game a 10 or a 9. The amount of times I've had to delve into my game files and manually try and fix my saves is...absurd. Unfortunately, that means the game as a whole gets a 6/10. A decent idea, a good story with occasional unsatisfying elements, but hampered by technical problems and lengthy waits between chapters. Worth a play? Absolutely. A masterpiece? Unfortunately not.

It's true. I didn't even think about how ridiculous it was tha Clementine was able to drag an unconcious 154 lbs man through a zombie horde without being attacked an eaten. Telltale shouldn't have gone that route. They should of had Lee guide Clementine through the horde slowly and escort her to the train to reunite her with Christa and Omid before Lee said his goodbyes and died. That should have at least been one of the endings possible to achieve.

[Doctanian]

Originally Posted by dee23

How about the fact that the kidnapper was able to get to Savannah in the first place. His car had no fuel when Lee's group raided it. During the week between episode 2's ending and the end of episode 3 he lost his wife and child but managed to get to Savannah before Lee who had reached Savannah by train. Not to mention that Clementine only new she was going Savannah when Lee confirmed it to her when he was on the train cutting her hair so she couldn't have told the stranger until after that point yet he knows Savannah pretty well when advising Lee to get out of the street. I'm sorry Telltale but I didn't by any of that. It felt tacked on.

The whole stranger on the radio plot spoiled the series to me. The focus should have stayed on searching for Clementine's parents and finding a safe haven. When the stranger sat me down and explainned why he was punishing me he didn't have anything on me. Clementine had told him everything I had done whilst being with her from episode 1-5. The stranger should have seen me as a saint based on my choices. I didn't steal his food from the car, I didn't kill any of the st john brothers. I didn't help Kenny kill Larry. All he had to criticize me for was the fact that I took Clementine to Crawford, I left Lilly on the road and I saved Carly over Doug. He claimed I saved her because she was pretty and a had a gun. I know that was Telltale speaking to us through him at that point. But that's just it, I didn't save her purely for those reasons. I saved her because I bonded more with her in episode 1 than I did with Doug. Had the choice of been between Kenny and Carly, she still would have been pretty and still would have had a gun, yet I would have bonded more with Kenny since Lee had spent a whole day with him by then. In that case I would have chosen Kenny over Carly. Telltale gave Carly far more script lines, and scenes than Doug. She was involved in all the major arguments and decissions once Lee met that group. Saving her was a no brainner. Then Telltale punish us for choosing the character that they had fleshed out more so the kidnapper uses that as a reason for punishing Lee. Ridiculous. That was Telltale's feable attempt to make it seem like choices matter and there are consequences for our actions.

The guy even said that he wanted to punish the peole that was with Lee, refering to Kenny and his wife, blaming them for the death of his wife and son due to them looting his food, yet he wants to kill Lee because of things he felt he had done to people he didn't even know or care about.

By the end I felt that there was no reward for the way I played the game. I could have been an arse hole, treated Clementine like shit, killed everone for the fun of it and still got the same ending. Ben will still die in the alley way if he was in ep 5, Kenny will still die in the alley if ben was not in ep 5. Lee will still die in the locked room at Clementine's hand and she will still leave the city by herself and see 2 figures in the distance. I don't see why Telltale coudn't have had multiple endings considering this episode was much shorter than all of the others. I had all the group members with me expecting to get the longest game because there was more characters to talk to, yet the game finished in 1 and half hours. I was hoping that the episode would have been the longest. In comics milestone issues like TWD 100 are often double sized additions. I expected the episode to be longer than episode 1 at least. I found episode 5's ending under whelming. Considering we will have to wait a very long time before season 2 comes out I would have wanted the episode to end with some ressolve, at least to see Clementine board the train with Christa and Omid and a longer video seqence. The Tekken games have longer video seqences when you complete them.

^^^^
This.


God, someone who gets it. The "radio" plotline was fucking terrible. They should've just kept it about survival. Raiding for supplies. Power struggles between Lilly and Kenny. Deciding who eats. That made this game MASTERFUL, do you hear me? It was fucking brilliant up until Campman's whackass showed up.

Marsh House was surrounded by zombies, but had none inside. Bullshit.
Kenny dies for Ben. Bullshit.

All he had to do was ask Clem "where are you?" and he should've taken his family to Lee's group and asked to join since they took their food. Instead, he plots a Rube Goldberg revenge scheme that makes absolutely no fucking sense in practicality and motivation. To simply request to join Lee's group would've been much more logical. With Mark and Larry gone, that's less mouths to feed and therefore them letting them join would've been more likely.

Him teaming up with bandits to raid Lee's group would've made more sense that the bullshit we were served in episode 5.

[Christoaster]

I just noticed something...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLZBk...1&feature=plcp

Pause at 1:21:32 ... Who's car is that o.O?

[DreadMagus]

I give this thread two thumbs up.

[tmsmyth4]

The bit before the credits reminded me of the Sopranos ending. Giving you Lee's perspective when he passes out in the street, then the black screen when he dies. But wow, the whole scene with Lee turning was executed so well, I wasn't prepared for that

[Kitmit13]

Originally Posted by DreadMagus

I give this thread two thumbs up.

thank you

[Freder58]

I agree with some of the criticisms of the game, but even so my reactions are overwhelmingly positive. I did a fair amount of boo-hooing at the end. My question is, is there actually a way for Lee to survive the story that none of us have discovered yet? I'm kind of surprised reading this forum to learn that there don't seem to be ANY multiple endings, it all seems to lead to the same moment and that cutting his arm off or not seems to make no difference at all... now that IS disappointing...

[chowyunfat]

For a start - sorry my bad English.

Oh man what a final!!!
The ending actually brought tears to my eyes! Clementine have to shot Lee and all that stuff. And she's just a little girl. Lee just trying do to best for her and he's final words- "i'll miss you", break my heart forever One of the most emotional ending I've ever seen, quite close to Red Dead Redemption amazing ending.

Well at least Clementine is still a life, that's all that matter
My game of the year sure, because of such a powerfull ending, episode 5 was definitely climax of the series. Waiting for season 2 now...

[chowyunfat]

Originally Posted by dee23

It's true. I didn't even think about how ridiculous it was tha Clementine was able to drag an unconcious 154 lbs man through a zombie horde without being attacked an eaten.

Heh... Well, there was some ridiculous errors for sure. If you can get over those, there is still a quite memorable story..

[dubesor]

I'm pretty sure Lee weighs a lot more than 154lbs.... more like 190lbs, maybe 180lbs if you cut off his arm

[FunkyFro]

I LOVED this Whole episode and Game, so shocking.
I wonder what happens if you take Ben with you though? In my group i had Christa, Omid and Kenny (Molly is still alive as well for me). I just wonder what happens when they drop the walkey talkie, IF they drop it when Ben comes along.

There's just ONE thing though that makes me wonder, and i think i'm right.. Is the stranger we saw, Glenn? Now i didn't listen to the whole story of his wife and child and i'm not sure if Glenn had one too (Dont think so) BUT, there was just something about his hair, shaved? beard and parts of his voice, that just reminded me and was similar to Glenn. ALSO he had a fixed Walkie Talkie, which gets me most.
I think it was Glenn.. Don't know why and it most likely wasn't but, i don't know XD

Anyways overall it was such an amazing episode, and i was so scared when that Walker got out the chair at the end and nearly got Clem. Especially the way that sculpt on the shelf fell on Lee's head.

[def_c�n]

Originally Posted by Gijake1

When I killed the stranger and shot him from turning, I felt like I was fighting on the wrong side for a bit. :/

the whole episode i was seeing to the point i can kill this bas***d from the radio. but after the fight and what he told me....i couldn´t shoot him. i dont know why.

and of course he is the reason why kenny died.
and why lee gets bitten and died.
and why vernons group was able to steel the boat.

without him, my group would have been safely on the water.
but in the end this doesn´t matter he is dead anyway.

[chiaroscuro]

Yeah, I also noticed it was extremely weird how Clementine dragged a much larger Lee to safety. I think this is evidence that the writing and general production was rushed. In some ways, this is hard to fault them for.

Though, with season 2 they may be able to have a more relaxed timetable.

[nublar93]

The Walking Dead the game. Great story, great gameplay, good cast of characters, and many more. What do you think of the game?

[short_stack]

Goty

[the_killer_ch]

Could have been GOTY easily.... but the only award I can give it is BOTY (Bugs of the year)

[Gman5852]

Originally Posted by the_killer_ch

Could have been GOTY easily.... but the only award I can give it is BOTY (Bugs of the year)

Skyrim was my BOTY for 2011

[dx1]

I voted Brilliant. One of the best. and I mean it. But let me be honest: As a game it is mediocre at best. You know, alibi puzzles, no expierence points, no auto heal and cover system and so on. Name a game genre TWD resembles and everyone can tell you why it fails to be good in that particular genre.

But TWD rocks. I love the comics. The first 100 issues mad me grind my teath, made me laugh, made me cry while the TV show is somewhat boring in my opinion. Okay, I watch Falling Skies at the moment and that one is totally a waste of time. Back to TWD by TTG: The Story has it *erm* lamer acts but all in all it is B to B+ — and I'm not talking of a B+ compared to other video games but for a story presented in animated media (say: film). Some of the characters had their erratic moments but again all in all the character development of the supporting acts was a B+ for me. And for the main characters (Lee and Clementine) A+. They became real while I played. I identified with Lee and really cared for the little girl. Great writing, even greater voice actors — especially Melissa Hutchison.

Since I had no real technical issues like lost save games or black screens (I only had to wait a little longer for EP4) and it is not TTG's fault that I'm not one of the chosen guest stars of the pre-orderer's lottery I might say: This game rocks and was one of the most impressive experiences I had since I started gaming back in the last millenium. Interactive movies where THE thing at that time but were only a fad for two or three years. The Walking Dead by Telltale Games is outstanding. A game-like interactive movie that is really immersive.

Can't wait for S2, but please give me a Collector's DVD and the soundtrack.

[Degenerate10]

Should've posted a scale from 1 to 10. I'd say I'd give it an 8 really. I just hated that all the zombies look exactly the same for the most part.

(Mod edit: comment wishes for something the thread I merged the source thread into possesses)