Making choices in TWD
Hey everyone, I've been thinking about why people seem to be split on a lot of different decisions in TWD. Probably because I've become pretty invested in the franchise, more than any other video games in a decade and it's starting to get unsightly. What I notice is that a lot of the time people consider the merits of their different options, weighing pros and cons before making up their mind while other people feel their way through and decide immediately. Some people don't mind replaying a chapter if they feel they made the wrong decision afterwards while other people think of it as savescumming. Some don't really care because to them the choices don't really matter in the first place.
One thing in particular strikes me though; some make the decisions which they personally feel would be the best. They don’t consider themselves to be a third person observer and choose to play the characters as extensions of themselves. I can relate to this because I’m one of the people who did this in season 1 playing as Lee. In season 1 you are thrown right into the game with very little exposition and made to make your own choices right away. You'll pick up on Lee being a convict, but the particular circumstances aren't elaborated upon. Throughout the whole game Lee is never an independent character, but the player's window into the world. You are given very little grounds to consider what Lee would actually do because Lee as a character doesn't exist before you make him into a character with your own decisions. The same applies to the 400 days player characters as well.
In season 2 you’re playing as Clementine. It goes without saying that Clementine is a different character from Lee. Not only is Lee a grown man while Clementine is an adolescent girl, but more importantly in that Clementine has had a full season of exposition and development as a character largely independent from the player while Lee was a blank slate. Here’s where I get a lot of trouble with taking choices. In season 1 I could make split second decisions with no problem before the time would run out, but in season 2 I find myself pausing the game every time I’m presented with a choice because I feel I’m not given enough time to consider.
It boils down to this: I know what I would do if I were in Clementine’s shoes, but I don't know what Clementine would do. Despite a full season of exposition I can't actually relate to Clementine or her struggles. I have to stop at every crossroad to consider not what I would do myself, but what Clementine would do. This is because I feel that if I just use Clementine as an extension of myself like I did with Lee I wouldn't be respecting Clementine as an independent character with her own canonical background and in that way detracting from the story. At this point I'm a third person observer and it would be strange for Clementine to act the way I might have, knowing what I do and not what Clementine does. I'm a degree removed from the character.
Another approach I've seen to playing Clementine is that the player will consider which option would be best for Clementine. This way of thinking in particular strikes me as completely bizarre because at this point decision making is at least two or three degrees removed from the character. The player is no longer taking the role of either themselves or of Clementine but rather "gaming" a story-driven game, trying to make Clementine some kind of super survivalist with the options they're presented. Real people don't always do what's best for themselves, but have flaws and lapses in judgment. I honestly can't see this kind of decision making ever turning into a natural character development or interesting narrative. In my opinion the choices don't impact the overall story, but rather impact the character you're playing as. Of course everyone is welcome to play the game the way they want.
Thanks for hearing me out, now it's your turn: my question to you is how you make decisions in the games, and particularly in season 2 with an established character. Do you make the decisions you would have made yourself? Do you make the decisions you think your Clementine would have made? Do you try to "game" the decisions? Do you just pick the decision you think would have the funniest outcome? Maybe you have completely different criteria for how you make your choice which I haven’t even thought about, let me know! And let's try to keep it spoiler free even though the question is aimed at people who have finished both seasons everyone might not have discovered all the different dialogue and would want to find it themselves.
I sure hope nobody I know catches me sperging about video games on the internet or I might die of embarrassment. Maybe I have a Peter Pan syndrome or I'm filling a void in my life with escapism through video games.
Comments
I always play from the heart, so to speak. I feel like the character is an extension of my own psyche. I make a choice immediately and don't look back, and I honestly can't think of a decision I made that I ended up regretting in either season.