MCSM S2 EP2 - My thoughts
Another week, another Telltale episode to review... and what a good one this was. Interesting premise for this one, plot still a bit too meta for my taste, but very cool twists and choices.
- So, when starting this Episode unfortunately my Jesse (Male Jesse#2 -- mixed colour black-shirt guy) had different coloured eyes. And it bothered me throughout the whole episode. I'm so used to the black eyes with that skin tone from this season and the last.. but have it change to green due to a glitch? Weird. Hope TTG has it fixed in Episode 3. Don't know why just the eyes would be affected instead of the whole skin.
- We've got a pretty cool fight with a pretty cool God here.. sneaking through the town getting to his weak spot. And what a big weak spot that was.. ouch.
- Also Lukas! Yay! I've decided by this point that I think my main goal would be to develop a bromance between Jesse and Lukas, and Jesse and Jack. We need to be best buds. Also Radar. He's adorbs.
- One of the great things of this episode was the music. Oh MAN was it good. Antimo and Welles really impressed me here. This episode actually had some light snow theme to the music, unlike the previous episode that suddenly had some jazz tune in the underwater Sea Temple. I really enjoyed the opening credits music here, as well as many others in the Gauntlet. The shooting Gallery music was great, as well as the room with the floating lava and the confrontation with the Admin just before. Really. Good. Music here.
Rebuilding Rueben's monument was nice, but it wasn't totally clear that we wouldn't put the sign on a wall or something after we finished our creation. This is the monument I created. Glass window on the ceiling, dark prismarine on the side, stone panel on the back where the sign was supposed to go, but didn't. Now I guess it's some sort of gazebo.. maybe a Rueben Prayer space?? I don't know. I had an idea, but I could not complete it. Still a good build, though.
Now, I was wondering how this new building aspect would play into the plot, as the main conflict had been revealed last episode so I figured we wouldn't have much downtime to make something cool. But, Telltale delivered. Awesome!I like this group we've got going here (minus Stella). Jack, the adventurer.. Radar the Intern/protégé.. and my best buds Lukas and Petra. We've got a good dynamic. I liked the fact that Jack encouraged Radar a bit, when walking up to the big snow temple.
- One big moment I liked was the shooting gallery. Another example of Telltale experimenting with mechanics in their engine. It was a good game. I aced the first two rounds, but I kept getting mixed up on the buttons and pedestrians in Round 3. It was really cool, though. What new and interesting elements can they add next? Oooh.
- One thing I still don't like is this "special water" this game has (the water Vos fell into...). I liked it when the game was grounded in Minecraft, but still had some original things using already established content. This weird "reflective water" we've seen so far just feels out of place to me. I like the usual blue water. Feels like Minecraft.
- So, nothing else to mention here other than the big twist at the end. That was interesting.. but... I knew it! I knew Vos was evil! He was mysterious from the start! I knew it! So it turns out he's evil and wants to toy with us.. and be his "friend". Kind of makes sense.
What does a God do when they get bored? Toy with their creations. Make challenges. Play with them. And it makes sense for this universe.
I still think it's a bit too meta even if we now know he's a Minecraft-esque "character" and not an outside force. Just makes me wonder How do you kill the very being that created you, as well as everything you know? Because He knows exactly who he's dealing with.
-- One thing I do like from this is a theory I came up with. Since whoever fixed the clock was the champion, and now bears his gauntlet. I think they may become the next Admin. Since in the episode 5 synopsis, we see Jesse has a "new enemy".. what if that was Jack/Petra? They became the chosen one.
I wouldn't want that to be true. I like Jack. I like his stories of his adventures.. too bad he's elsewhere and I'm stuck with Petra in some jail.
So, this episode clocked in at about an hour and 30 minutes for me. And I didn't mind the length. There was enough going on where it's enjoyable and there's a lot of cool branching I'd like to revisit.
If I were any good at rating things, I'd give this an 8.8/10
FYI: I think the next episode will have love and care put into it. Since you and Petra/Jack were thrown into a prison, and you might not see the other one for at least a whole other episode.. This is going to be really tailored. I can feel it.
Comments
No, Vos is not evil. He had died long before Jesse and their friends went to the sea temple. The Vos you freed was the fake Vos. The Admin is Vos in disguise.
Also trying calling that Jesse mixed, y'know to be more specific? I thought you was talking about the black Jesse before you pointed out the shirt. But you don't have to. And yes, this episode was good.
Well, you know what I mean. The "fake" Vos. He was evil since we first met him. I knew something was up in his crypticness and all-around jolly vibe after being stuck in that Temple for who knows how long... But I was right that this person could not be trusted.
Sorry for the mix-up. I'm just not sure what to call that Jesse. In this season we now have 4 different male Jesses, with various shades of skin. One can be considered white, one can be considered black, and the other two are both "mixed" in a way. not one or the other. One is slightly darker than the other.
But yes I will change that to mixed, to be more specific.
Ok, sorry for the confusion.
Maybe call that Jesse the original mixed Jesse? Or just say it like you did, like when you said the dark skinned one with the black shirt, but just replace dark skinned with mixed? Or, y'know can still just call it mixed.
Ok, sorry for the confusion.
Maybe call that Jesse the original mixed Jesse? Or just say it like you did, like when you said the dark skinned one with the black shirt, but just replace dark skinned with mixed? Or, y'know can still just call it mixed.
ugh, a duplicate.
You know, something did feel off to me about Vos from the beginning as well. His little story about pork chops did convince me though, since in regular Minecraft they do last a long time if you stand there and do nothing.
Although I do feel that the plot being a bit meta is a nice touch in my opinion. From my experience with Minecraft back in 2012/13, the idea of "The Admin" being this godly and somewhat abusive power fits perfectly with how some servers were run back then. I can actually kind of relate to him in some ways, as I was an admin on a small survival server myself back in those days. You can't help but mess with people sometimes, it gets kind of boring when you have unlimited access to items and have godlike powers. Plus, Minecraft itself is kind of a meta game, hinted at by its end credits. I can't blame Telltale for taking a more meta route with both seasons 1 and 2, although I do understand how that can bother people who would rather be immersed into the world of the story.
I hope your theory on the new champion of The Admin isn't right though, because Petra ended up being it in my playthrough. She's one of the OG characters, and was frankly one of the characters I became most friendly with throughout the game.
It'll be nice to see ArkCraft Asylum, and I just hope that somehow Ivor has ended up there as well, since the group'll be really small in the episode 3 it seems. As long as I don't have to talk with Radar (I'm sorry, but I really don't like Radar one bit.) As much as this episode it should be Solid.
Stella seems to be my inside woman with the admin with that little Wink she gave me.
I hope we find someone we know in this prison/asylum, preferably Ivor or Gabriel or maybe Soren.
Hopefully some familiar faces appear here.. it'd be nice to see some callbacks to last season, that's for sure.
I prefer the name "Blockham Asylum"..
i think maybe cassie rose might shown up considering the White pumpkin theme was played thoughtout the preview althought it could have been just to make the atmostphere creepier.