What choices felt like they did and didn't matter?
Sup y'all? Haven't been here in a while, but I need some input from fellow Walking Dead fans. I've asked this same question on reddit, and figured this would probably be a good place to ask it too.
I'm currently in the middle of doing research for an analysis video of the game's third season, and one of my sticking points concerns the illusion of choice and how effective (or ineffective ) it is in the game; I was hoping you guys were willing to share your thoughts on that, specifically what major choices you thought were most effective and well-delivered on, and what choices seemed important only to disappoint you.
I personally hate that choosing whether to leave at night or go in the morning to save Mari, Kate and Gabe results in Mari's death either way. All of the choices in Telltale games eventually railroad back to a specific status quo, but that choice initially seemed important thanks to my perception of in-game time-sensitivity. It felt significant, but it wasn't, and Mari ends up with a bullet in her head, leaving us with her infinitely more annoying and less likable sibling.
Anyway, thanks for sharing in advance.
Comments
The majority of ANF choices didn't matter.
Choose the one you hate the most, and tell me why.
Being on David's side all the time. No matter how much I was civil to David and stayed away from Kate, he still wanted to kill me over jealously.
Didnt matter:
Did matter:
Don't forget "Reject or Accept Ava's offer" "Inject AJ or not" and "Say goodbye or spit on David". Those choices did matter, surprisingly.
I guess they sort of mattered at the very end of episode 5, but it took a lot of digging to figure out what actually determined her choice. Not very clear consequences.
I hate how those decisions decide if Clementine goes with you or goes were you don't go or whatever, it makes no sense. I should've been more based on Javier's decisions (have Clem's back in Prescott, shoot Conrad, kill doctor lingard, let David in) if Javier always made decisions in Clem's favor she should have gone with him. And Clem's decisions in season two (Trying to save Alvin, Trying to help Kenny when he's getting beat down, Helping Sarah pick the berries, Saving Sarah, etc.) they could have factored in how she treats Sarah for how she treats other kids her age (aka Gabe) and they could have factored in how much times she tried to save someone in season 2 (aka Alvin, Kenny, and Sarah) if she doesn't try to save people as much she would go with Kate. If she's hopeful and tries to save people more often then maybe she will go save gabe. It shouldn't be decided based of fucking shaking Ava's hand.
Betraying Clementines trust after she trusts you with her secret of being New Frontier previously had no consequence to their relationship, even though they just spent all the time up to that point establishing how Clementine doesnt trust people anymore and keeps her secrets to herself, then when she finally opens up to someone, he immidiately betrays her, she should hate Javier for life after that, but I guess consistent character development doesnt matter
Ha, good point. Another good reason why I hate ANF for my collection.
Personally, I like the idea of consequences for actions not always being clear. Like the end of S1 E4 where things you've done with Kenny over the course of the season come into play.
True, but everyone pretty much knew exactly where they stood with Kenny by that point. With the Clem choice, it seems sort of random and haphazard and basically so TT can still technically say there were 42 different Clem personalities.
I honestly dont think we were given enough time with Clem in the flashbacks for her to have formed a distinct personality, but maybe thats just me.
Ooh boy, the ever penetrating force throughout these games. Let's do this, I suppose
Did Matter
Saving Richmond with Kate or Saving Gabe from David(Ew boy...;Clementine=Red Ring)
Didn't Matter
Supporting, parenting, OR mistreating Gabe throughout(They wasted a perfectly good plot)
At the very least, this can be a good reference point for when I actually start doing my rewrites on ANF.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
It's a tie between being on David's side or siding with Conrad or not.
No matter how nice you treat your brother and sticking up for him, he'll always fight you in Ep.5, even if you rejected Kate and never showed any feelings for her. It pretty much seals David as a villain this season, in my opinion.
Killing Conrad or not doesn't affect your relationship with Clementine, him, or even Tripp and Eleanor. Yes Tripp and Eleanor get mad at you if you did, but Tripp will end up being your friend again in Ep.5. It also doesn't even lower Clem's trust for you. It'll seem like it never happened in the next few episodes. Not to mention Conrad has no further role in the rest of the story besides just "being there at the right time".
Is it bad that I actually don't like those choices that were given? For example, if you didn't shoot Conrad he apologizes and helps Javi later on. Clem knows that he regrets it and that he helped the group. She should be happy that Javier didn't shoot Conrad and kept him alive. And why doesn't she understand why Javier let David in? Without David she wouldn't have known that AJ was still alive. Same with Dr Lingard. Based on our choices in S2 (if possible), Clementine should have reacted differently when dealing with Lingard or not.
No, not at all.
That's not really the point, though. It's that Clementine is supposed to have trust issues after what happened with Kenny, Jane, and David and thus is usually very hesitant about trust on top of being edgy and somewhat temperamental. Javier agreeing to Conrad's plan and possibly denying being allied with her (with or without the addition of any other disagreements you've had with her up till that point and later on) should've had some notable effect on her interactions with you because of this.
Instead, it never really comes up and she still does things like intervene during the trip to David's Warehouse regardless.
Also, technically, she never actually suggested killing Conrad, but whatever.
The best illusion of choice...."choice" was the meat locker. Boy was it intense.
Hi y'all, been a while (again). I'd like to thank you for sharing all your thoughts and opinions. I've finished the video and some of the choices and in-game exchanges brought up here are examined there. It's not perfect, or the most exhaustive look at the game, but I like to think the points I bring up can be applied to the most of the season. Here's the vid if you want a look.
The Illusion of Choice and Other Missteps in Telltale's the Walking Dead S3
Honestly though what did Conrad change to the story besides being there and saying a couple random lines?
I never replayed the game to fully see.
I much would have preferred to see Francine stay alive and hang with the group instead.
Off the top of my head, there's:
if you let clementine decide whether or not she wants to kill lingard then snitch on her when Joan accuses you of the murder, she doesn't care at all. not sure if someone else has mentioned this or not.
Oh yeah, @Deltino made these hilarious screenshots of that from the mobile version.