Letting Clementine decide for herself
I stumbled across this interview with Jake Rodkin about the final scene of Season 1, where Lee is given the option to have Clementine either shoot or leave him:
Rodkin: There's one funny detail that we may as well mention. This is a timed choice, and if you let the timer run out and Lee says nothing, Clementine does decide for herself. If you aren't there for Clementine when she asks you what you should do, she does actually look back at everything that's happened and she'll decide if she wants to do it or not. You can force it on Clementine, but you're a big ass if you do that.
This is mentioned in the TWD Wiki as well: http://walkingdead.wikia.com/wiki/Clementine#Trivia
So I did 2 different playthroughs to test this: During the first playthrough I treated Clementine as good as I could and played very human and diplomatic, without killing/fighting/threatening anyone (well, except for the bandits and the stranger), while during the second playthrough I did the exact opposite. But in both cases the outcome was exactly the same: I let the timer run out and Clementine decided not to shoot him.
So my question is: What exactly does she "look back at" when making this decision for herself?
What do you have to do in order to have Clementine shoot him without forcing it on her (not that I necessarily WANT her to shoot him, it's just bugging me and I want to know how that works)?
And please excuse my awful grammar. English is not my native language.
Comments
it's a lie, she will not look back at anything. you pick if she kills lee. i had her kill lee
It is true. I did get her to shot Lee herself. The only choices I remember doing is killing the saint John Brothers, letting Ben die, killing the stranger and siding with Kenny all the time.
Siding with Kenny comes with smooshing Larry right in front of her and she sneaks up on you when you kill the first St. John brother (and has to be there for the second.)
You killed the stranger yourself, though? I figured she'd be more inclined to shoot Lee if she'd had to kill the Stranger. Kinda makes sense though - she'll have seen Lee go full-bore vicious and choke another person to death and also won't have another death on her conscience that might prevent her from wanting to pull the trigger a second time.
I'm almost interested in going through and playing this way just to see for myself. Almost. But mostly, I just can't bear to have her shoot Lee.
I actually rewound in my own main save file months ago when I first heard about this, just to see what she would choose. Originally I'd told her to shoot me - and when I let her make the decision herself, she decided to shoot me as well.
I basically played as Kenny's right-hand man even though I did my best to treat Clem well, so maybe some of those decisions have to do with it. I killed Larry, dropped Ben, and Clem shot the stranger. I wonder if any of those affect it?
It's definitely not a lie.
Just finished another playthrough. I sided with Kenny in every single situation, as XyzLewis and sardines suggested. And this time she actually DID want to shoot him. Thanks for the tips!
So it only depends on your relationship with Kenny then?
That doesn't make much sense to me though. Why does your relationship with him have so much influence on her, while things like slaughtering people do not? Am I missing something?
Well, maybe it's not really meant to be because of your relationship with Kenny, but just because of the types of decisions you make if you befriend him in your playthrough? Kenny's decisions are usually the more practical but morally ambiguous. So maybe that influences Clementine to take the same path when it comes to Lee's fate?
Just a thought, but it might come down to how you handle your Larry situation. It would explain why people who are buddy-buddy with Kenny experienced Clementine defaulting to shooting Lee, since killing Larry guarantees a perfect relationship with Kenny (or almost nearly, anyway).
In the jewelry store, when the door won't open and you're both trapped, you end up explaining the situation to Clementine. She starts breathing heavy, and Lee can say things like, "It's going to be okay" or "I was supposed to take care of you." If you let the option time out, though, Clementine will say, "...it's just like with Larry, isn't it?" Based on that line and your choice in the meat locker, Clementine can probably infer what she needs to do based on your actions.
Furthermore, if you ask Clementine to leave you, Lee has the choice to explain his reasoning. "Save the bullet," "The noise will attract walkers," or "Violence changes you" are the options. If you pick the lattermost, Lee can refer back to the Larry situation (if you chose to spare him) and he will explain how, in that moment, he didn't want to cause anymore violence. I can see that being the lesson Clementine gleaned from Lee's choice if he chose to help Larry.
Seeing as how the Larry situation is such a powerful event (it will literally make or break your relationship with Kenny; at best, you will find a mixed relationship with him if you agree with him on everything but Larry), I'm guessing Clementine's response may be based on that.
You guys make it seem like she just nonchalantly shoots you. Does she still cry and close her eyes or does she just say, "I'm gonna shoot you so you don't turn"?
I see what you mean. I think you're right about that.
But why does Clementine (or rather the game) judge your attitude based on your relationship with Kenny, instead of just checking which actual decisions you've made?
The thing is that you can make all those "pragmatic" decisions (killing Larry, abandoning Lilly, killing Ben, etc.) without necessarily siding with Kenny. I've done that before, but Clem still didn't want to shoot Lee. It's like the game doesn't let her realize what Lee has done unless he becomes Kenny's best friend. Kind of a sloppy solution by the devs if it's really meant to be because of those decisions.
After the timer runs out she says something like: "I... I... OK, Lee... I can do it. I can.".
Then the game continues just as it does when you force her to shoot him. You can give her your last advices and the sequence of Clem shooting Lee is exactly the same.
The only difference is that she is deciding it by herself instead of Lee forcing it on her, which is the best solution in my opinion (even if she doesn't want to shoot him).
I find it kinda weird that most players think that forcing Kenny to shoot his son is gruesome, but forcing a nine-year-old to shoot her "father" is totally fine.
Anyway, thanks for your replies. I appreciate it.
I told her to shoot so she can become stronger. It was sad and she said, I... I... OK, Lee... I can do it. I can.".
Well, yeah... it's the same as if you tell her to do it. Nothing changes.
It's just a psychological thing for the player. Just like everything else that you can "decide" in this "game".
It just makes some players feel more comfortable if they let her decide it by herself.
why?
If you be a good guy she wont kill you because she likes you to much but if you be a bad guy she will shoot you
From what I've seen, she does choose, it doesn't matter how diplomatic you are, it matters what you taught her. If you were nice, but told her about the realities of the world ("everything is dangerous" or "don't be afraid" etc.) she will have the courage to shoot you. However, if you coddle (how far and what is considered coddling I'm not sure of) her throughout, she'll leave you. Also, I think siding with Kenny means that Clementine understands that sometimes hard decisions must be taken for the benefit of a friend. If Lee does stuff without agreeing with Kenny, it'll come to her thinking that was how Lee was, and most of what he did was for himself. Leaving Lee is something Clementine would want. However, helping Kenny (shooting Duck, etc.) lets her know that sometimes, it's for the good of someone else, in this case, for Lee. While she may not want to shoot him personally, she understands that Lee wouldn't want to be a walker, so she kills him. At least, that's what I could gather, anyway.
but she begs for u not to be walker. i always have her shoot lee. 1 i dont want him to be one. 2 its obvious she doesnt want him one either but knows what she must do and knows its a very hard thing to
I actually shot Duck for Kenny, but when he found the boy in the attic, I thought it was time for him to get over it, and the best way to do that was to kill this similar-looking boy.
I felt the same with Clementine, if she didn't shoot lee, I would have felt like she didn't get closure. In the end, I decided to shoot him, just because it felt right at the moment. Just like every decision in this game, it's all about the moment.
Lee also "decided" for himself in some converstations, it just depended on the situation.
There's a number of descisions that govern Clemintine's choice. Whetheer you let that poor motel girl kill herself, chop the leg of the music teacher, kill Larry, kill Ben, letting the Macon woman scream until she dies, and Leaving the Stranger to turn I think. Any point where you could preserve life, at the cost of all else will influence her descision. Protect life at the cost of others, or end lives to save yourself. Allow people to turn into walkers, or end what you percive as their suffering. In addition, you killing the Stranger, you killing the walkers in the station and you killing the walker atacking Moly mean Clemintine isn't comfortable with weapons, leaving her to be afraid.
This is my impression, and on my run preserving life I got her to leave me.
This discussion is three years old....