E4 Spoiler Warning - Good ideas with poor execution
I'm not disappointed in the episode as much as I'm simply numb. There were actually quite a few things I enjoyed about it, but also a lot of things that I thought were great that were handled extremely poorly.
Eleanor's betrayal The theme of this episode appears to be betrayals. This is actually an instance where it's more of a win situation for anyone that killed Conrad because it's the only scenario that really gives Eleanor's twist any justice. If you spared Conrad, this character's motivations become shallow, and strange. I'm actually very supportive of her motivations after the killing of Conrad, but the poor execution comes across if he's alive.
David's outburst A lot of people might be disappointed with the direction they took here, or with David's character in general, but I actually like what happens if you don't take the shot. David's faith in the people he trusted is utterly destroyed as the men and women he stood alongside execute someone Javi attempts to save in cold blood while he's helpless to do anything about it. This blind rage won't allow for Joan to get lost in the crowd. She has to answer for all that's happened. Where this dissolved into poor execution for me is if you shoot Joan, and that same rage transfers to chasing down Clint.
Were there any instances of good ideas that just fell flat for anyone else?
Comments
I feel that Eleanor's betrayal still works even if Conrad's still alive. She's only really known Javi for a few days and now that he's stirring up trouble, she feels she's got a better chance of survival joining Joan. I feel that makes more sense than her being completely loyal to people she's basically only just met.
I personally think that Davids actions are more childish and overreactive than anything Gabe ever did, but since they were well-shown (at least in comparison to the rest of the season), I quite liked this part of the ending.
But the rest of the Episode is plain Bulls- Im sorry. Where are my manners. Its...not my favorite. Well, thats kinda wrong to. Here are some parts that bugged me:
The entire situation they're into seems...shady. I like the idea of the House of Cards-Like game of power within the community, but it doesnt fit in the violence-focused gameplay and the ending. Also why the hell those people get to talk about justice when their men burned down a settlement, killed a little girl and possibly much more? Thats just nothing else but stupid.
Talking about stupidity - I absolutely hate the way Telltale approaches their teenager characters, Gabe and Clem. That romance thing I tried to ignore is out of place and almost emberassing to watch. And Gabe is now doing stupid things for no reason at all. Its not even like Ben, who is not used to the situation, or Sarah , who is mentally unstable. He's just stupid.
Same on teh romance part with Tripp and Eleanor, two persons with almost no character development. In the end, I almost was satisfied to be able to kill Tripp (f*ck you game by the way!) and I literally forgot Eleanor on Episode 3 already, so whatever. That the two have feelings for each other, should be way more irrelevant then it is.
And, yes I know thats standart, decisions you made have absolutely no impact on the things that are happening. You get to see Rufus again if you spared him - but it doesnt matter. You kissed Kate - doesnt matter, you can still friendzone her. And I dont even have a touching and realistic story to remember of, such as in Season 1 (perfect storytelling) or Season 2 (average story, but great way of telling it). No, the story is action-loaded and - in my opinion - to close to the TV Series.
In the very unlikely case that anybody reads through this completely: I do not hate A New Frontier. Actually, I like it. Not for what it wants to be, but for what it is. But I can't play a game and 100% love it. I am a terrible fanboy, and I am happy about that.
I suppose in a way it does. It could be that what makes it feel off is just her general lack of screen time. I do get a sense of a lot transpiring off screen surrounding her character, particularly with Tripp, but I had hoped we'd have a chance to see more from Eleanor in E4. Not that I romanced her, but since that was offered, her character seems to be swept aside quickly. I realize that she's only known Javi for a few days, but these are the people that slaughtered Prescott. People she's known and as a nurse helped to care for.
I honestly feel the same way. I don't really see it as a flat-out betrayal, more an attempt at mediating the situation. She probably had good intentions by talking to Joan... probably thought she could avoid any unnecessary bloodshed, or at the very least, try to reason with her, convince her to let everyone go or something. But unfortunately, Eleanor didn't know (or account for) how much of a snake Joan truly is.
Maybe it's not the brightest idea, but you have to remember that she hasn't seen the things we have. She wasn't at the church when we tried to expose her. If she was there and saw the kind of person Joan was first-hand, I have no doubt she would have told her to shove it.
I agree completely. Hopefully, they'll give both Eleanor and Clint some fairly ample screentime next episode to explain things.
Same. Hopefully, they can pull something together to at least placate that a bit next episode.
And oddly enough, I think that's part of why he works(not at all saying they didn't, btw; just that he's inherently different). They were scared, inexperienced, and put upon individuals who made a few mistakes because they simply didn't know what else to do; Gabe(and Mariana), on the other hand, is more or less confirmed in this epiosde to have undergone training from Kate and Javier, but it's his inherited hotbloodness in spite of his actual capabilities that gets him into trouble.
Also, I'd say Sarah was more psychologically unstable than mentally, as she was just a little ignorant/oblivious about certain things.
You can still make that work, as Javier could've been caught up in heat of the moment but realized that what he did was wrong later.
The entire situation they're into seems...shady. I agree. I really did enjoy the ideas behind this episode, but the ending with everyone in the town just letting it happen was strange. I'm in no way saying it's entirely unrealistic, but there should've been more of an outcry or unrest in the crowd than there was. These weren't strangers. Ava seemed to know a lot of people in the frontier very well. David was well liked. I didn't expect the sheeple to rush the stage like Gabe of course would for his father, but more than a murmur and a gasp. In the best case scenario, I was hoping to see a riot or an example be made of someone in the crowd standing up to Joan.
Talking about stupidity Couldn't agree more on this point. While some of Gabe's actions were entirely reasonable for a boy about to watch his father die ( rushing the stage, and wanting to be involved in helping him ), I think they scripted his eagerness to get involved poorly. I was just starting to get on board to like this character, and I feel like he's the punching bag of bad lines. They had some great thought-out moments to involve Gabe in, but the delivery at times got cringe-worthy. I can understand not wanting to create Carl 2.0, but coming from a household background with the loss of his father - he should have developed a more mature role in his family. I've seen and know of so many young men who have done exactly that.
Fingers crossed for a redemption arc for these two characters.
Agreed on the Eleanor point, without the betrayal it seems pretty odd. Had she suggested negotiating more clearly in the debate that took place in her room it might've made a little more sense as the player would know she wanted to end things peacefully.
I've been saying this forever, THESE WRITERS SUUUUCK.
Didn't take the shot in hope to save him. I thought that Joan's people would hang him if I attempted it. He *was * actually meant to leave with us right hahahaha? When you say outburst, do you mean him killing Joan's guys? David is now easily the most interesting character in the game. He should have spotlight for final episode instead of Gabe.
He was in fact meant to leave with us. David's outburst references him killing Joan's men, taking Clint hostage, and racing after Joan carelessly at the end of the events if you don't take the shot. If you did take the shot, the outburst references him racing after Clint in the crowd as you're not wrong as to what happens if you do shoot Joan.
I really do hope that he has some solid screen time in E5. I know that some of that time will have to be devoted to reuniting Clem and AJ. Dr. Linguard had some nice things to say in the man's defense, especially in how he took on full responsibility for AJ. I'd hoped for some dynamic changes in Gabe for E4/E5 but it doesn't look like the writers know quite how to pull it off successfully.