The ending felt forced. The story contrived.
Hi guys,
First, I want to say I enjoyed TWAU very much. I don't say the ending/story were bad. They story good, but they could have been so much better had TTG not been so hesitant to include any highly viewed and regarded theory TTG's multiple-release-date system and the ensuing opportunity to adjust the plot is not conducive for a good "whodunit" or crime noir story like The Wolf Among Us.
Bear in mind, that TTG openly states that besides distribution and logistics, one of the reasons for releasing games every-so-often and abruptly announcing the release date is the writing. It is stated that fan-feedback from this very forum is taken into consideration, which s is certainly a good thing on one end. TTG can see what players like in the game, and what they dislike. However, they can see what people predict, what deductions, people have made, and the general consensus of what is truly going on. In this way, viewing fan feedback (predictions/theories) is such a double edged sword.
The Wolf Among Us is a mystery. Making predictions is an integral part of the gameplay process. It is a much bigger part of the playing experience than in The Walking Dead, or Game of Thrones for instance.Only TTG knows the extent to which they incorporate our own beliefs and predictions into the story, but I posit that our collective postings are unusually influential to the plot development of the game. I don't say that TTG is inept, or not creative; in fact, I think it is the opposite.
TTG actually has to be extra-creative (to a fault), and they're in a rather precarious position. If they make the plot something that we all saw coming, people will complain that their writing was lazy. On the other hand, if they intentionally avoid any or even many (even main parts of) of the leading theories, they will end up with a rather convoluted story, and I think the latter is what has happened here
I want to give just a few examples to support my position.
Remember the whole frenzy over the "Ginger guy" or "Red-headed man", who was later postulated to be the Boy who Cried Wolf? Some people still say he has always just been a reused character model. I reject this argument completely. Great writers never include frivolous junk. Everything (especially a character in this case) has it's purpose. I have too much respect for TTG writing to say that this guy wasn't originally intended to play a bigger role. I can't find the original thread (sorry), but it was even pointed out that he had crooks (like those of a shepherd on his tie). We caught onto it thanks to the original author, and it was adjusted
What about the woman who pointed out Vivian could be the killer because of the cigarettes?
This was a great discovery, but when it was generally agreed that it was quite likely, we got a rather watered down version of what actually happened to Lily. Now, this does not mean it wasn't how it was supposed to be the whole time, but if it was supposed to be Georgie killing Lily without much of an explanation, then that's pretty disappointing and embarrassing to the writing staff.
Again, I have sympathy for TTG, because they've got to find a balance between complication and cohesiveness. The story has to be both sensible and surprising, no easy task They have to leave so many what I'll call "seeds" behind in the story. These are things that they can plant in earlier episodes, that they can use to advance the plot arc. Some will be planted and just won't germinate because that's not where the writers want the story to go. However, some won't germinate if we all catch on or agree on some proposition .And if enough seeds don't germinate, we're left with what was once a promising garden that has been overgrown with weeds (silly ideas used to circumvent our collective agreement).
There are so many "seeds that didn't germinate", unanswerable (not unanswered) questions, and even a few plot holes or things that really don't go along with the rest of the story. As the above proponent said, she was happy that at least part of her theory was true. I had my own theory, posted below, about what happened as well, including the correct prediction that Faith was alive. By the way, if you're in the Nerissa was Faith crowd, we disagree, but please don't debate that notion here (only because it's off topic, not because it's not worth debating). Either way, I am happy to have been partly correct. If anything, I hope the sheer length of this post and my theory below will serve as evidence to my claim that there are a lot of weird inconsistencies/unused bits in the story, because I am not going to post them here (they're tangential to the topic).
I didn't visit my thread for months (partly because I got busy with school/work), but also because I wanted to see what might happen if it was ignored, viewed, endorsed, or dismissed. Same with the Vivian theory. I am not back to say, "how dare TTG not accept the truth of the red-headed guy" theory!" Or the Vivian theory. Or my own theory about Faith. Nobody will be 100% right, and if they actually were, it would be totally justified for TTG
to adjust the plot to make that person's theory not 100% right. Yet, When you completely avoid consensus (like the Vivian theory) just to creative and clandestine, you're actually creating a confusing cacophony.
Getting back to the topic, and winding up, the question I want to raise is simply this: What's the most important thing in creating a plot for an ongoing story? How important is sacrificing a cohesive plot for one rather convoluted that nobody saw coming? I say again, secrecy and ending a story in way most didn't expect is important. If we all posted what was going to happen and then it did, TTG would (rightfully) be accused of lazy writing. I think they went a bit too far to avoid that accusation.
The question of: "What's the most important thing in creating a plot for an ongoing, story?" is a very hard one to answer indeed, especially when the community ad the media (the game) itself are both computer based. Having said that. I think TTG ended TWAU as well as they could.
They answered the question the best that they could. Their lips were sealed. Our predictions were the ribbons that sealed them. Irony Always gets the last laugh.