Telltale games thoughts

Most people don’t mind if things are railroaded. After all, there is only so much time and money that can be spent on writing, voice acting, etc.

However, when Telltale says your choices matter, and then basically invalidate them…that’s where some people get irritated. I think the one that got to me the most was in Walking Dead; even if you saved a character, they were dead anyways 10 minutes later. I get it, it is a deadly universe, and a high bodycount, but if not even one person out of 10 is saved by your actions, then it is a false choice.

On the other hand, it didn’t bother me with games like A Wolf Among Us since you know that Bigby is going to end up top dog, and everything is filler on the way.

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Personally I think people read too much into that… and that is precisely why some of them feel disapointed when things don’t meet up their expectations. To me, when Telltale tells me my choices “matter”, it mostly means I’m going to encounter little variables in the story depending on what I do… but ultimately the end path will always be the same. They are trying to tell a story, first and foremost.

Its like going to the beach but first having to choose between sandals or regular shoes, the fomer won’t protect me from getting sand underneath my feet but the other will. Overall, it gives you an illusion of freedom, of choice and consequence, and that’s really all there is to it. I acknowledge that and accept it. If your issue is about your choices being invalidated then what do you propose they do? Give you no choice at all? But then what about plot-twists and other interesting events? What if its necessary to progress the story? What if it has a purpose in the long run?

Maybe Telltale should change their wording a bit… or maybe people need to realize that’s all they meant all along rather than twisting meanings and hoping for something its not? I learned to enjoy their works for what they are and offer rather than questioning and mincing their “wording” like a lawyer or a politician on a case… but everyone’s different. You also have to remember that you can’t really compare the choices a CYOA game provide versus something like Telltale’s. They’re two different monsters. If some people expect them to be on the same level… well… that’s not really Telltale’s problem is it? :confused:

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I think it is a combination of factors.

Some of Tell-Tale’s advertising definitely makes it feel like one gets more choice than they actually do. And when it doesn’t? People can feel betrayed. While not on the same scale, I remember how BioWare kept saying one’s choices in the Mass Effect universe would have such far-ranging consequences…and then the first ending was basically a color change, and the same cinematic.

And I agree people can have unreasonable expectations, but this could be ameliorated if Telltale did a better job disguising how choices give impact. For that matter, though, if it is the advertising which makes the people have those expectations…then that is on Tell-Tale, and if people gripe about it afterwards, then it is deserved.

That’s actually fairly easy, just depends on the game, and what one considers having choices matter. You can still have the same story/plot/outcome for the most part, but at least make it visible especially towards the end where certain things matter.

For me? In the case of the Walking Dead? If you manage to save some characters at a certain point, then not everyone of them should die. They don’t have to give them a large role, hell they could be in the background if there is a sequel…but at least it would make it seem like your actions did matter.

In Wolf Among Us? If you are playing as a murderous bad-ass, then at least have some of the people actually act scared in certain encounters. All it would take is some alternate lines. As for the ending, though? I was satisfied. At least what you did to the Crooked Man felt like it had consequences, even if they essentially wrote him out of a sequel.

The same with Tales from the Borderlands. Certain choices would help determine what characters might be chooseable in the final phase, even if the ending was a given. At least in that instance, my choices felt like they had impact.

Say what I might about BioWare, but in the Dragon Age setting, when they implemented the decisions/choices from DA: Origins and DA: 2 into DA: Inquisitions, it isn’t like those characters (like the Gray Warden) were necessary, but the cameos gave the illusion of it.

Heck, I actually felt like my choices mattered more in the Playstation 4 game Until Dawn than I did with a lot of Tell-Tale stuff.

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I can see what you mean there but at the same time I’m like - just because I saved a specific character from being killed at some point doesn’t mean I’m going to be able to do it again. I guess one could ask what is the purpose of having a choice if that character is going to die anyway? Well… the way I see it, it sets up a point and that point is that sometimes you are powerless to do anything even if you wanted otherwise.

You dislike it because you feel your choices were invalidated but I merely see it as “fate” - it was meant to be no matter my efforts in it. It serves a purpose and that purpose is, aside from what I already mentioned, to pull your emotional strings with certain characters you’ve grown attached to - the fact you care enough to protect them proves that. Or you can also call it writers’s lazyness so that they have less work on the sequels… whichever compels you.

I do agree with the Wolf Among Us part though… people reacting to your decisions and attitude SHOULD play a bigger role in the story - its not hard to do so they really had no reason to leave it out, even in the eventuallity of said characters having short lives.

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And I could see what they were going for, and could anticipate it, and I have no problem with say 90% of it. It is just the extent which is my biggest issue with it.

I also freely admit that I think series can go to the grimdark well all to often and this will color my view; Game of Thrones comes to mind as well. That is why despite all my griping about Walking Dead Season 2, I did appreciate the ending with Clem and the baby.

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My favorite Telltale Game so far is Game of Thrones. Where the choices have a lot more weight than the normal Telltale Games. Considering character you play as can do based on your choices and depending who takes up the mantle can lead to very different outcomes or senarios. At the same time to I am a sucker for The Walking Dead.

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I liked their game of thrones (even with the awful combat system) so I bought Tales from the borderlands and Wolf among us when they were on sale thinking they’d hook me as well. While not bad I guess, I can’t say I’m really enjoying them (I bought them a year ago and still haven’t gotten around to finishing either).

Just want to put it out there that the first chapter in the third The Walking Dead telltale game drops tomorrow. Clementine is older! Ahm so excited!

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Walking Dead Season 2 is also free with Twitch Prime. If you have Amazon Prime then you already have Twitch Prime

I am a little worried about playing New Frontier now since apparently learning that nothing in Season 2 matters outside some dream flashbacks with Jane, Kenny and company you don’t have much if any control over. Bah. Sometimes I think the need for multiple seasons can reduce the amount of true choice one gets in the games, even when the stories are good.

Well…The Walking Dead Season 3 is out…
I’ll be back in ten hours.

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Played both episode repeatedly

@Baam Really? Well, that’s my sleeping schedule gone to shit.

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I’m back from New Frontier… the feels man. Telltale sure knows how to hit the feels…

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Just finished both episodes aaaaand…seconded. Seconded so hard.

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These reviews are making me so happy. I think I should go back and play the earlier seasons so I’m emotionally raw enough.

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There should be an award for “Biggest cliffhangers” - Telltale would win them all.

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I’ve played a few TT games. I really liked Tales from the Borderlands…like a lot, but it’s the Game of Thrones game that stands out for me.

I’m not a Game of Thrones fan. I ditched the first book halfway through, and I didn’t even make it that far into the first season of the show, but for some reason the game grabbed me hard. Especially Mira’s story. I talk about it all the time here

At one point someone comes to kill you. You manage to escape the trap, kill him, and even have a friend dispose of the body. It feels like a pretty clean get away. After playing that scene though I was in the shower and I swear the thoughts running through my head were something like, “but, somebody sent him. That means they knew I was going to be there, and when he doesn’t return they’ll know what I did. They could just send more assassins.”

When I get so wrapped up in a game that I forget it’s not real, and it blurs into my thoughts after I stop playing.

[spoiler] The best though was the end. I just couldn’t marry that guy so I was executed. I had done everything to stay in favor at court. I had even through my closest friend under the bus, and it hadn’t been enough. Right up until the end I thought someone would come to save me. When I realized no one was coming. I looked up at the blue sky spared a thought for my friend who I had betrayed, and wished I hadn’t then…black.

I honestly can’t say if I was mirroring the emotions my character’s animated feelings, or projecting my own onto her, but either way the moment was one of those rare perfect moment’s in gaming where it all just feels so real. Then the axe fell Mira died, and I was wrecked…I just stared ahead into nothing for…idk…twenty minutes or so. [/spoiler]

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All the endings of second season led to exactly same outcome with a minimum scene difference who didn’t add anything to role playing.
In mass effect save characters have a BIG DIFFERENCE save Wrex or not in first game Is a big difference. Have tali as almirant too and many other factors that ckuld lead entire species genocide. In tale tale there is not difference ANYWHERE ALL IS THE SAME. so for me is a good no interactive movie just it.

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That really hasn’t changed with the start of Season 3 either. Even if you went with someone/saved someone, Tell-Tale went with the expedient route of just killing someone off.

I promise not to really post anything else in this thread because I’m glad other people are enjoying the story, but I can say for me Season 3 didn’t give me any emotional impact for me. Tell-Tale has done all these tricks/techniques/plot devices before, and feels overly done.

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