You don't need to kill anyone

[Rock114]

Telltale didn;t know they would make a Season 2 of the game when they had the story mapped out, so that may be why casualties were high for the group. If they had a Season 2 planned earlier, then maybe Lee would have lived, or a few more characters would have survived. But hey, in a ZA, just because you're in a group doesn't mean you'll make it. Some groups would crash and burn and die in a ZA, and I kind of like that we got to see that from Lee's perspective instead of the most liked characters surviving while everyone else dies around them.

[CarScar]

Originally Posted by montesinos7

I have read the entire comic book series. Oh that's what actually happens? Funny because there has never been a zombie apocalypse.

... In the context of a zombie apocolypse do you honestly believe death wouldn't be everywhere? Do you honestly believe that it would be realistic if there were very few deaths? Get real.

[DrDeepthroat]

I agree with the OP. I was hoping the game wouldn't go the generic survivor/horror film route where every single non-main character (and sometimes even the main character) gets killed. I wouldn't mind if it were possible to lose all these characters but some of them should've lived or died depending on your decisions; that would've been nice.

Still a great game with emotional moments but yeah. I think Molly is the only character who can live or die depending on your actions.

[DreadMagus]

Originally Posted by montesinos7

I have read the entire comic book series. Oh that's what actually happens? Funny because there has never been a zombie apocalypse.

I'm going to assume you're being intentionally obtuse.

It's a genre, at this point, and this is what happens IN THIS GENRE.

[montesinos7]

Originally Posted by CarScar

... In the context of a zombie apocolypse do you honestly believe death wouldn't be everywhere? Do you honestly believe that it would be realistic if there were very few deaths? Get real.

Yeah not that many deaths

[chaz99]

I will say that the OP makes a fair point. Eventually you get sick of it, and move on. It becomes dull and predictable, and the reader will develop "character development fatigue". What's the point of getting attached or taking an interest in the character if you know he/she's zombie bait?

Nothing to hang on to, and you'll get tired of it and move on pretty soon.

[DreadMagus]

Then maybe the ZA-Genre isn't for you?

I mean, I can understand some characters being more capable and having more survivability. But if anyone seems to have plot armor, things get dull for entirely different reasons.

[LauriNicole]

The thing is though, it wouldn't be realistic if people didn't die.

[Rommel49]

Originally Posted by CarScar

... In the context of a zombie apocolypse do you honestly believe death wouldn't be everywhere? Do you honestly believe that it would be realistic if there were very few deaths? Get real.

Realistically? Odds are the death toll would actually be relatively low, atleast compared to historical plagues. Those spread as far as they did (and still do) because they're difficult to notice, either by hitching rides on tiny insects, moving invisibly through the air, or have asymptomatic carriers that can spread the disease without anyone knowing. Rotting corpses that happen to be ambulatory don't enjoy the same advantages.

There's a reason ZA fiction rarely covers how the plague actually began and spread, i.e. that stage where we go from the zombie patient zero to a dozen zombies and so on to where we finally end up with millions of them. It pretty much always automagically starts at that "millions of zombies stage".

Anywho, from a narrative perspective, killing off characters tends to be popular, simply because sadness is one of the easiest emotions for a writer to evoke.

[DreadMagus]

Low? Are you kidding?

You seem to be forgetting that zombies are effectively a walking viral weapon - that make more of themselves with each kill.

A zombie apocalypse would be catastrophic, even if it didn't go with "Romero rules".

[thestalkinghead]

Originally Posted by DreadMagus

Low? Are you kidding?

You seem to be forgetting that zombies are effectively a walking viral weapon - that make more of themselves with each kill.

A zombie apocalypse would be catastrophic, even if it didn't go with "Romero rules".

but its the zombie apocalypse part that is hard to get to, but i guess you just have to apply a huge dose of sod's law to the entire planet and just assume every single one of the millions of situations where people could have got away or killed the zombie they failed badly and everybody died due to powerful final destination like zombie magic

[DreadMagus]

Maybe it's because I'm tired, but I've read that three times and have no idea what the hell you're saying.

[Cyreen]

Originally Posted by thestalkinghead

but its the zombie apocalypse part that is hard to get to...

Not really when you consider that in the Walking Dead universe, everyone is "infected". Regardless of how they die, they reanimate.

The attachment to some characters is a direct result of their untimely demise.

[thestalkinghead]

Originally Posted by DreadMagus

Maybe it's because I'm tired, but I've read that three times and have no idea what the hell you're saying.

maybe I'm tired too sod's law or Murphy's Law is basically a law that makes the bad luck dial turn to 11 and even the smartest and bravest cant defeat bad luck.

Originally Posted by Cyreen

Not really when you consider that in the Walking Dead universe, everyone is "infected". Regardless of how they die, they reanimate.

basically what i am saying is that for the zombie apocalypse to actually happen (even with everybody being infected which does give the zombies a bit of an advantage) an incredible amount of world wide bad luck would have to happen for zombies to defeat the normal population of the planet let alone the planets military, so maybe Death from final destination has a plan but this time it involves zombies (bonus crazy theory, Lee and Rick are the guys at the beginning of the film who have the premonition)

[DreadMagus]

Ok, with your further description - things make a ton more sense to me

I look at it this way, if a ZA start Raccoon City style - yeah, it's containable, since you can just nuke the spot clean.

But let's say it's spread across several cities/countries/continents before it pops (pick your poison: God/Virus/Aliens/Magic/Mormons) - each victim can create additional vectors.

If, for any reason, each singular zombie creates even 1 zombie before dying - the entire mass continues to double.

Mix in the fact you'll have tons of panic, etc - things break down fast. And that's before uninfected "opportunists" make things worse.

[Rommel49]

Originally Posted by DreadMagus

Low? Are you kidding?

You seem to be forgetting that zombies are effectively a walking viral weapon - that make more of themselves with each kill.

A zombie apocalypse would be catastrophic, even if it didn't go with "Romero rules".

Biting is a pretty crappy method to actually spread a plague though, that's the problem. Insects manage it by being hard to notice and/or having wings - zombies have neither of these attributes.

As thestalkinghead picked up on, realistically you're never even going to get to the "apocalypse" stage to begin with, it's a non-starter... which is why virtually no ZA fiction (the Walking Dead included) makes a serious effort to explain how the apocalypse actually began in the first place.

[Cyreen]

Approximately 150,000 people die every day. Consider that community epicenters will be hospitals and it will initially quietly spread from there. Even assuming the military of whatever country in question tweaks to the situation early, how willing are they going to be to obliterate a hospital? Then there is the normal human reaction to hide weakness, the bitten will deny out of fear, loved ones will hide the infected until it's too late, and in the meantime, people will continue to die and whether they are infected or not, will reanimate. By the time the powers that be are aware of the situation, I doubt they will have a military left to command, considering soldiers are people with families too.

Originally Posted by Rommel49

Biting is a pretty crappy method to actually spread a plague though

Everybody in the Walking Dead is already inflected, bite or no bite.

[DreadMagus]

Originally Posted by Rommel49

Biting is a pretty crappy method to actually spread a plague though, that's the problem. Insects manage it by being hard to notice and/or having wings - zombies have neither of these attributes.

As thestalkinghead picked up on, realistically you're never even going to get to the "apocalypse" stage to begin with, it's a non-starter... which is why virtually no ZA fiction (the Walking Dead included) makes a serious effort to explain how the apocalypse actually began in the first place.

Disagree.

But only because there are far too many permutations.

Let's say, for example, we go with Romero's rules (which TWD uses to an extent) - then there's no stopping it. Anything dies, or gets bit, and it turns. Period.

Also if for some reason, let's say it starts on the streets of major cities among the homeless and poor and whatnot - you'll have a virtual horde before anyone DOES notice.

I think the problem here, is that you seem to be looking at the zombies as carriers of a virus. I'm looking at them as the virus.

[thestalkinghead]

Originally Posted by DreadMagus

Disagree.

But only because there are far too many permutations.

Let's say, for example, we go with Romero's rules (which TWD uses to an extent) - then there's no stopping it. Anything dies, or gets bit, and it turns. Period.

Also if for some reason, let's say it starts on the streets of major cities among the homeless and poor and whatnot - you'll have a virtual horde before anyone DOES notice.

I think the problem here, is that you seem to be looking at the zombies as carriers of a virus. I'm looking at them as the virus.

but i think even with panic and all the people dying that is only like 60% apocalypse, there are literally millions of military personnel on the planet and they wont all die in the initial panic, infact most wont die in the initial panic, now you have loads of zombies and a tonne of pissed off military to kill them, bites and panic just wont get past the barrier of our technology and our will to survive (without and incredibly unbelievable amount of bad luck anyway)

[DreadMagus]

To be honest, I doubt the military would be that efficient.

For the main reason they're dangerous - their training... Aren't most soldiers trained to go for the center mass instead of the head on normal targets?

Now apply that to enemies who will not go down due to torso shots..... by the time people actually realize the only way to kill a zombie is with a headshot/blow - and... well... there might not be much military left.