What is Telltale's Game? (Season 2 Speculation)
After a rather promising first two episodes, followed by a series of ups and downs, leading up to an enjoyable but ultimately unresolved finale with a surprise ending where the surviving brother from Episode 5 doesn't die in the final battle. Now I love the idea that Telltale could be aspiring to reach new heights with their determinant characters, that they could continue to have both a long term and meaningful impact on the next story to come, but there is also the practical reality of this simply being too much work to pull off.
Episode 6 took a whole extra month than its predecessors to be released, given the major divergences that were caused by the final choice in Episode 5 - both Asher and Rodrik - now under the determinant label - were given well thought and fleshed out storylines that didn't feel recycled from each other - and despite this series not quite living up to the critical acclaim of Tales from the Borderlands, Telltale still deserves to be commended for going the extra mile in a way they've never done so before.
Sure TWD Season 2 had multiple divergent endings and Tales Episode 3 could begin in 2 very different ways depending on who you chose to trust, but this was the first time Telltale went out of their way to craft an entirely unique story experience out of such divergence and it was done almost an entire episode long.
Honestly, what I'd love is for Telltale to continue this storyline divergence for the entire second season - I don't want Asher/Rodrik to be your typical disposable determinant characters, I want their survival in Episode 6 to be meaningful, and for them not to be killed at the start of Season 2 just for shock value. If this meant waiting 4 to 5 months between each episode, then I'm perfectly content with this if it means that Telltale has enough time to cater to continuing Asher/Rodrik's own unique determinant storylines.
Realistically however that would be a lot of work, moreover a lot of fans might not like waiting so long either.
But then why did Telltale make Asher/Rodrik survive Episode 6? Was it just to temporarily thwart our expectations of them dying, or was it signalling just how grandly ambitious Season 2 was going to be? Can Telltale actually pull this off and keep Asher/Rodrik alive as POVs throughout Season 2?
Or was it just a one-time wonder, where they will die by the first episode of Season 2 and the storyline is essentially reset with new characters and stories to take their place?
Comments
Honestly, I don't think it'd be that hard for them to remain (alive) protagonists, but having the same story. Have a few changes in dialogues here and there, but essentially being the same storyline as the other brother's. That's actually what I was expecting from Episode 6, was pleasently surprised that it wasn't the case.
Hmmm.... then in theory they could take this easy route in Season 2 - keep Asher/Rodrik alive, accommodating only minor dialogue options for most of the part with the occasional major divergences maybe towards the end of Season 2.
Yes, I really do hope Asher/Rodrik escape the Telltale curse over determinant characters.