[Spoilers] Is the game suffering from Mass Effect syndrome?

[Faramis]

With episode 3, it kinda boils down to having the same story with some minor substractions or additions here and there. Whole episode made all your previous decisions mean nothing. Whether you save Carley or Doug does not matter, they both die in almost same manner. Whether you side with Kenny or Lilly, does not matter, because you get stuck with Kenny no matter what. You are forcibly introduced into new characters, even two strangers, which you must accept into group even after what happened at St. Johns it would be probably wise not to accept any strangers. It is Mass Effect all over again. "Oh hey, your choices will really matter in future". Except they don't, you get the same story and conlusion every time, with minor alterations. I get that it would be lot more writing for devs, but was it not the whole premise "The story is tailored by how you play"? It is kinda shame, really.

[Norskatt]

Ugh. Can we please leave the Mass Effect analogies out of it. I'm so tired of hearing about ME3.

[robdave]

I'd agree. Whilst I enjoy my first playthrough of this immensely, I struggle to be bothered replaying it with different decisions because I know the outcome won't REALLY matter. I like taking the decisions in the heat of the moment, then dealing with the results but it offers no replayability to me at all, especially not being able to skip scenes.

[ItsMeArmani]

Please hush about Mass Effect 3 and don't bring that wave of whining to this forum. All logic, peace, and fun would be sucked out of this forum.

If you don't like what Telltale is doing with this game then move on but don't try to bring the Mass Effect 3 complaining here. Its just a game.

All of what you said was opinion, please don't start.

[Greenpaw]

He's got a point, just saying. By the end of episode three the story is a bit linear.

[Drake Sigar]

EA is large and evil. TellTale is more small and neutral, like Switzerland. They don't have millions of dollars to blow on one project. Perhaps instead of focusing on the limitations, you should be marvelling at how TellTale managed to make you feel this array of emotions in one self-contained 8-12 hour story when Mass Effect had three games.

Besides, I can barely stand constant complaints about the delays as it is. Constructing sections of the game at least half the players will never see will set the game back years. Maybe with the second season they can afford to go further with the concept.

[RAnthonyMahan]

As much as I hate EA/BioWare, don't bring Mass Effect into this. You can't compare a game made by a small independent developer to a game made by one of the largest companies in the industry. That's just not fair.

If anything, you should be happy that this game has the same level of choice as Mass Effect, considering Telltale's limited resources.

[cormoran]

It's a videogame, in the end it needs to have boundaries.

If they tried to create a game that changed everything with each little decision all the way up to the ending we'd end up with a game that makes (and please forgive me for bringing up yet another oft whined about game) Duke Nukem Forevers dev cycle seem miniscule by comparison.

We don't need an ending that accomodates every decision you ever made. Your decisions can matter, but they don't have to matter throughout the entire game up to the ending.

Saving Carly or Doug mattered while they were alive.

Choosing Lilly or Kenny Mattered while they were both part of the group and actually may still matter since Kenny is still around to remember your choices.

How we handle these two new characters will matter throughout the next episode(s).

The problem people had with ME3 is that they only looked at the last ten minutes when the entire game was crafted as the last act of the story. I think all the whining was completely unwarranted and that's all I'm going to say about that.

It seems that when some people hear "your choices matter" they expect far too much, like a game that could begin with Lee riding in the back of a cop car and ending up with Lee fighting Cthulhu in space or Lee getting drunk with pirates at the bottom of the ocean or Lee in a triple threat wrestling match against Gandalf and Darth Vader for the World Heavyweight Title at Wrestlemania or Lee winning the Tour de France eleven times in a row with two balls, no drugs and Clem in a trailer on the back depending on your choices.

Don't focus on those last few minutes, focus on the game as a whole, focus on when those choices do matter.

[RAnthonyMahan]

Originally Posted by cormoran

It seems that when some people hear "your choices matter" they expect far too much, like a game that could begin with Lee riding in the back of a cop car and ending up with Lee fighting Cthulhu in space or Lee getting drunk with pirates at the bottom of the ocean or Lee in a triple threat wrestling match against Gandalf and Darth Vader for the World Heavyweight Title at Wrestlemania or Lee winning the Tour de France eleven times in a row with two balls, no drugs and Clem in a trailer on the back depending on your choices.

Telltale Games and 5th Cell present...The Walking Scribblenauts!

[Rock114]

If the devs were to make every single choice you make impact the story, episode 2 would have been released maybe in 2014? for just two hours of gameplay? I feel that not being in FULL control is a nice little thing, as the world of TWD just keeps beating us down while we try everything within our power to keep standing. I am, personally, very impressed with what TellTale has done with this game.

[incubus4282]

Originally Posted by Faramis

With episode 3, it kinda boils down to having the same story with some minor substractions or additions here and there. Whole episode made all your previous decisions mean nothing. Whether you save Carley or Doug does not matter, they both die in almost same manner. Whether you side with Kenny or Lilly, does not matter, because you get stuck with Kenny no matter what. You are forcibly introduced into new characters, even two strangers, which you must accept into group even after what happened at St. Johns it would be probably wise not to accept any strangers. It is Mass Effect all over again. "Oh hey, your choices will really matter in future". Except they don't, you get the same story and conlusion every time, with minor alterations. I get that it would be lot more writing for devs, but was it not the whole premise "The story is tailored by how you play"? It is kinda shame, really.

All roads lead to Savannah...but they way we get there can be quite different, pretty much tailor-made.

While some characters reacted negative after choices your Lee made, other characters were disappointed by the things my Lee did. You probably had arguments with different characters than I had.

[corruptbiggins]

My current thought is that the journey (to where ever the game is going to end up going) isn't that important, it is how you respond to the things that happen along the way.

Ultimately, in regards to a branching story, all I'm really hoping for is for the game to have more than one ending. But I wouldn't be too distraught if that didn't happen as it's been a hell of a ride so far and I'm really interested to see where the story goes from here.

[donmike84]

don't start complaining yet we still got 2 more episodes to come around every corner and no time left lets see were the final 2 episodes take us first

[8Bit_System]

For me it is important for a game to entertain me, and I am tremendously entertained by the Walking Dead, as well as by the Mass Effect series.

[Redwizards]

From a programming and game development point of view, if you wanted the decisions to really matter, the game would take 10x longer to develop, and would cost 10x as much.

I agree, it would be worth it.

But uhhh, it would be expensive.



(And potentially very buggy)

[JabberCT]

I think you mean Mass Effect 3. Because 1 and 2 your choices did matter. But they took that all away in 3. And i agree this game does not really give you choices because its always the same outcome. The only difference is who will yell at you the whole episode, and who will be nice to you. And that changes with each decision. Stick up for Kenny through 2 episodes, then disagree with him once, and he will leave you to die. Its a bit unrealistic. I wish this game never had the Carly/Doug choice. Carley was the best character and Ep3 really put a bummer on the game now.