How ANF: Ties That Bind Part Two could've been improved
Hello everyone! As we all know TellTale released the first two episodes of ANF a couple of months ago and people weren't happy. I made a post about how Ties That Bind Part One could’ve been improved and people liked it. So I decided to make another one talking about how Ties That Bind Part Two could’ve been improved. This post will basically be me talking about how this episode could’ve been improved in different places and how it could’ve made fans more happy about ANF.
This is what fans have been saying that they wanted for episode three of ANF:
Make decisions actually change the story.
- Character development.
- Character interactions
- Longer flashbacks.
- Longer episodes.
- More playable Clementine.
- Main menu and end credit music.
- Clementine acting like how we made her in the past two seasons
So what I’m going to do is take what fans asked for and basically implement them in places that they could’ve been in Ties That Bind Part 2 and pretty much improve Ties That Bind Part 2. So let's get started!
The main menu:
Like I said before, the main menu is pretty much the same as Batman’s main menu and there's not that much of a difference. An awesome person named @OfficialMonkey actually recreated the Main menu to make it look like season 2’s main menu and it looks awesome!
I love what you did @OfficialMonkey Nice work! I still don't understand why Telltale didn't make a new main menu for ANF. This looks really good, but we still need more…
There we go! This is also something that TellTale really needed to add but didn’t. Music to the main menu. The music makes you think about the world of The Walking Dead and all the destruction and emotion in it. But they don’t give us any of that and it really is a big part in making the game great. If they added this music and a new main menu it would've made ANF better. Instead they just give us some music that isn't nearly as great as the one in season 2, and pretty much copy Batman's main menu.
Now let's go to the episode selection screen.
Episode selection screen:
@OfficialMonkey actually recreated the episode selection screens as well and they look fantastic! Awesome job man! Anyway let's go into the episode itself.
Ties That Bind Part 2:
The first thing I think could’ve been improved is the “Tell him off” option that you can choose when David gets mad about the broken glass.
I’ve been watching a lot of videos and people were thinking that it meant that Javi would say bad words at David. But instead they made it so Javi would say that Kate would divorce David. They should’ve made it so you could choose for Javi to “Let it go” or “Tell him the truth about his marriage.”
When I did this part I chose the “Let it go” option so this wasn’t an issue for me but I just wanted to point out this choice because it’s misleading.
Let’s go to the part where Marianna gets buried.
It’s a very sad moment and like I said, I wish Gabe died instead since I hate him. (That’s my personal opinion).
But what I’m curious about is that you can choose to bury Marianna with her cassette player or choose not to. But more on that later.
There is also a part a little later after you bury Marianna where Clementine drives Javi towards Prescott. We could’ve had a moment where Clementine talks to Javi during the drive towards Prescott. She could’ve started talking about Lee, Kenny, Jane, the cabin group, the list goes on. But instead they just cut it off and just skip the drive and go straight to Prescott. Here’s what they could’ve done:
“Hey Clementine, you said that you were with a group before?” Javi asked.
Clementine doesn't answer him and she just keeps looking in front of her, focusing on the road.
After a while of silence, Clementine finally speaks.
“When the walker's first started showing up, this man wandered into my house and he wanted some help. He found me and he took care of me. His name was Lee. He taught me how to shoot a gun and to keep my hair short” Clementine revealed.
“Well Lee sounded like a good guy. But what about your parents? Where’d they go?” Javi asked.
“They went on vacation without me and left me with a baby sitter. They never came back.” Clementine answered.
“Damn. I’m sorry about your parents.” Javi said.
“We met some other people and eventually we had a group. Me, Lee, and the rest of the group went to Savannah, where my parents went. I saw my parents… but they were already dead.” Clementine revealed.
“After that our group fell apart. There were only four of us left. Lee got bitten and he told me to shoot him so he wouldn’t turn into a walker.” Clementine continued.
“Did you kill him?” Javi asked.
Here Clementine would say yes or no, depending on what you chose for her to do at the end of season one. This would make your choice actually effect the game and would make fans happy.
“Damn.” Javi responded.
“There were three of us left. But eventually they both died and it was only me left.” Clementine said.
“That must’ve been very hard, losing all those people.” Javi replied.
“It was. I found another group, but it didn’t last long. Everyone died and I was all alone again. It’s like what this one girl Jane told me, every group falls apart. And our group did just that. It’s amazing how you made it this far. I’m not sure how you did it.” Clementine said.
Clementine can also start talking about Kenny or Jane (If you stayed with one of them) and talk about their deaths (which were poorly written) or maybe talk about how she was all alone or how she stayed at Wellington, depending on the ending you chose for season two.
They stay silent for awhile. But than Clementine speaks again.
“So how’d you find out about the walker's?” She asked.
“My father was getting really sick and he was dying at my brothers place. I wasn’t there and my brother told me to hurry up and get to him before he died. I tried to get their fast, I really did. But I was too late. He passed away before I got there. Marianna told us that he was alive somehow. We went to go look and there he was, standing there. We tried to talk to him but he attacked us. He was a muerto. I killed him and we had to drive to the hospital because he bit his wife on the cheek. But I don’t know what happened to her since she was in a different car than the one I was in.” Javi answered.
“I’m sorry about your father. He was probably a really good man.” Clementine said.
Javi looks to his right and looks out the car window.
“He was.” Javi replied.
And than the scene ends.
This would’ve made fans happy because it would bring things from past seasons into ANF and It would also make the episode longer.
In Prescott there were also some places where we could’ve had some more character development.
We could’ve learned more about Tripp like where he’s from, how he found out about the walker's, how he and Eleanor got together, how he got into Prescott, the list goes on. We also had another chance for some Conrad and Eleanor character development but we don’t get any of that either. All we get is Conrad telling us that Gabe is in front of the Prescott gates.
Here is what could’ve happened:
You could go to Tripp and ask him these questions:
“Hey Tripp, how long has Prescott been here for?” Javi asked.
“I don’t really know. Probably for about two years. Why’d you want to know?” Tripp asked.
“Just wondering. It seems like you’ve got a nice place here. Almost makes you forget about those things out there.” Javi answered.
“You’re right about that.” Tripp agreed.
“How’d you find out about the muertos?” Javi asked.
“You mean walker's? Found out when I was driving towards my home. I saw that there was this person stopped in the side of the road. I stopped and went to help out. It turns out that they ran someone over. The person got up from the ground and bit the guy that ran him over. I got in my car and drove as fast as I could back to my place. I still think about it now and again.” Tripp answered.
“What’d you do before all this happened?” Javi asked.
“I was a mechanic in Richmond. Fixed some broken down cars and got em back on the road.” Tripp answered.
See what I mean? We could’ve learned a lot about Tripp. Even though what I wrote was probably wrong you still get what I mean. There could’ve been character development here but TellTale just skipped the opportunity to do it.
Now let's go to the part where Javi goes to Gabe who’s hitting a walker over and over again. Here you can chose to give Gabe the cassette player that Mariana had if you didn’t bury her with it.
What’s interesting is that you can still keep it. But I do have a question about this.
Could we give it to David in episode 3 if we keep it?
That would be amazing if you could. Imagine his reaction!
Anyway let’s keep going.
Gabe talks about how he wants to be a man instead of being a helpless little boy. I think that being four years in the zombie apocalypse would make him a man by now and not some helpless little kid. This is another reason why I hate Gabe. If you want to be a man then be a man! Stop saying that and, as said by the amazing Shia Labeouf:
JUST DO IT.
Now let's skip to one of the things that everyone is pissed off about. Gabe and Clementine.
Now some people actually want this to happen. Other's don't want it to happen at all. What I personally think is that if Clementine is gonna be happy then I'll be okay with it. I’ve said this in another discussion and I’ll say it again.
I personally really want Clementine to be with someone. I don’t want her to just eventually die without being loved and cared for by someone other than Lee, Kenny, or her own parents. I want her to be with someone who will make her happy for the rest of her life. I don’t ship Gabe and Clementine at all. But if it makes Clementine happy then I’ll be okay with it. (But I’ll still hate it deep down).
Clementine might just be talking to Gabe because she wants to but after what Eleanor said about them maybe “hitting it off” that made me and a lot of people really pissed. I think Telltale shouldn't have done this at all because it's very forced.
Now let's skip to the part where Javi and the rest of the group is stuck because of some abandoned cars. Here you can talk to Tripp, who’s in front of one of the abandoned cars. You can talk to him and he’ll say that Conrad is a good man and that he has known him for a long time. Here is yet another place for some more character development. Here’s what it could’ve been:
“He’s a good man, Javi. I’ve known him for a long time. He’s saved my ass plenty of times before me and him got to Prescott. I couldn’t have made it without him. This is.. Just a dark day for him.” Tripp said.
“Yeah”. Javi agreed.
“Keep an eye on him for me, all right?” Tripp asked.
See what I mean? We could have learned that Tripp and Conrad knew each other before they were at Prescott, we could’ve learned that they didn’t create Prescott, we could’ve learned that Conrad saved Tripp a lot of times, and we could’ve learned that Conrad was a pretty good guy.
Everything from that little dialogue I did was probably not true but you get what I mean. We could’ve had even more character development. But TellTale skipped the opportunity again!
Now let's go to where Javi talks to Conrad. This dialogue was actually kind of stupid I’m not gonna lie.
“You good?” Javi asked.
“Nah, man. I’m not good.” Conrad answered.
“I know.” Javi replied.
What was that? Javi knows that Conrad’s girlfriend died and he’s asking “you good?” after only a couple hours after she died. Also after Conrad said he’s not good then he says “I know.”
Javi if you knew he wasn’t good then why did you even ask him in the first place? Here’s how it should’ve gone:
“Hey, how you holdin up?” Javi asked.
“Not good man. I’m still thinking about it. Why’d they have to kill Francine? She didn’t do anything.” Conrad answered.
Conrad starts to cry a little bit and Javi puts his hand on Conrad’s shoulder.
“I know. Don’t worry, we’ll get those son’s of bitches.” Javi replied.
“Yeah, we will. Let’s go get this car out of the way and get to Richmond.” Conrad responded.
This would’ve been much better in my opinion.
Now let's go to the part where Javi talks to Gabe. I’m just gonna say this.
Take that whole part out.
They start talking about how Gabe and Clementine were talking and Javi keeps emphasizing that it was more than just a talk.
Telltale just stop. PLEASE STOP.
Now let's go to where Javi talks to Clementine.
Now this is where Telltale actually did really well.
When you’re talking with Clementine she actually says different things depending on which ending you chose for season two.
They made a choice from the past seasons actually effect the story! That deserves a round of applause if you ask me.
Now let's skip to where Clementine has a flashback with her, A.J, and Ava.
The flashback is fine but they could’ve made it longer to be honest. They could’ve done something like this:
(This happens after the flashback they give us)
Clementine, A.J, and Ava have been hiding in the small building for hours. The herd of walker's had passed a while ago but they were all asleep.
“Hey, wake up!” A voice said.
Clementine wakes up and sees that it was Ava. Clementine gets up slowly and looks around the room. She sees that A.J is still asleep.
“They’re gone.” Ava said.
“Finally.” Clementine replied.
Clementine walks towards A.J and wakes him up.
“Come on goofball. We need to find you and me some food.” Clementine said.
A.J wakes up and starts crying.
Clementine quickly starts to hum a song and A.J eventually stops crying.
“Alright A.J, now let's go get some food.” Clementine said.
Clementine grabs A.J and puts him on her back, in her backpack. Clementine turns around and looks at Ava.
“You know my offer still stands. I can take you to my group and we can give you food, water, and blankets, if you want.” Ava offered.
Here you can chose for Clementine to say “I already told you no” or “I’ll go with you.”
After that you either leave with Ava or go it alone with A.J only. After that they could let you play a little bit more as Clementine either walking with Ava or only with A.J and then ending the flashback.
They could’ve made the flashback longer and fans could’ve played as Clementine for a longer time, making fans like this episode more.
Now let’s go to where Conrad holds Gabe hostage. I wasn't expecting it at all and I was pretty shocked. But I’m very interested in what happens next in episode 3. People are saying that Conrad is probably gonna die as soon as episode 3 starts if you didn’t kill him and I agree 100%. I’m also wondering how Clementine is going to get involved in the next episode if you killed Conrad, since she runs away after you kill him. Most likely she’ll get captured by The New Frontier when they’re guarding the area but I’m still interested. I'm also interested in what she'll think of Javi if you use her as a bargaining chip.
Now let’s go to the finale.
We find out that David is alive and leader of The New Frontier. I personally didn’t see this coming and I was genuinely surprised. There’s nothing wrong with this part but I just wanted to add my thoughts about this.
Telltale also forgot another very important thing that would've made this episode even better.
They forgot the amazing music at the end of their episodes. It really ends the episodes just right. Hearing the music and watching the credits roll before your eyes makes you start thinking about the entire episode and how sad, crazy, and awesome the episode was. But Telltale didn't add it and they should've added some music because it's also a big part in making the game great.
If Telltale would’ve done what I suggested then I’m pretty sure that a lot more people would’ve liked the second episode of ANF. It would’ve made the episode longer, have more character development, have more playable Clementine, have choices actually change the game, have more music in the game, and it would’ve made fans more happy about this episode.
I’ve seen the episode 3 trailer and it has gotten me very excited about the next episode and it has made me ask a lot of questions that’ll only be answered when the episode comes out. Hopefully TellTale have listened to what I and many others have asked and that they deliver on what we ask of them. They already denied longer episodes so that’s out of the question. But we still have other things that Telltale are more than capable of doing. I’m very excited about episode 3 and can’t wait for March 28th.
Also Telltale should put back the rewind feature into the game. It's very useful to me and many others as well. Without it we pretty much have to play the full episode again just to change a choice that we made. What if I wanted to change one choice? I have to play a whole hour to fix one choice? That's pretty crazy if you ask me. They should've never taken it out and hopefully they put it back soon.
If I missed anything that would’ve made this episode better please leave a comment and let me know! Anyway thank you so much for reading this post and I hope you have a great day! 