What are your biggest concerns of Season 3 *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
Since we all know that Season 3 is on its way, some of us are not at all convinced that Telltale will learn from their mistakes made in Season 2.
What problems are you hoping that they'll address in Season 3? What issues are you worried that will be carried over and hurt the quality of the next game?
Common worries I've noticed are:
- Determinants dying an episode later just after you save them from their first death.
- One-dimensional or under-developed characters.
- Choices making little to no difference from each other
- Character favouritism
Feel free to list more here.
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Comments
That it won't have anything to do with Clementine.
Interesting you say that, because personally I don't mind if Clementine's story ends in Season 2. It had a conclusive end to her story.
That it will have something to do with Clementine/Her Group... That group is over, it has played it's part, it has left that part, No one else remains, I Hope there is a DLC to bring Closure to the 400 Days Group and Lilly and Christa and Molly, But other than that, we Need a New start.
Season 2 endings mattering
After playing TFTBL and GOT, the only concern I have is the endings not mattering all that much, and since they have well over a year to do that, it's not that much of a concern. Any other concerns have been swept under the rug by just how great Tales and Thrones have been so far, there's been character development, interaction, longer episodes, choices having an impact, etc.
Everybody, dying.
Other characters getting as much development as cardboard cutouts
Characters being viewed as nothing but bowling pins to get knocked down in the grand scheme of Clemmy.
Clem bringing up more Lee references than mention of her own damn parents.
Another case of 'your decisions up until this point don't matter, now pick just an ending' all over again.
A powerful bond being created between Clem and A.J for the mere sake of him getting killed off.
An implausible string of events leading up to character or characters dying.
Basically characters dying stupidly for shock value bullshit.
Plot, all over the place.
Clem not ditching the 'cool jacket'.
I don't get it. Games like these aren't really designed around how the 'player' wants it to work out. It's like telling an author that he/she has made their book wrong and trying to change their plot and device. TellTale makes their games how they make them. They are stories, "Determinants dying an episode later just after you save them from their first death." So? No matter how much you bonded or liked such character...in this game world, they may have had a huge chance of dying, and so they did.
"One-dimensional or under-developed characters." Examples please? Half of this game is filling in your own stories with that of others, or figuring it out in subtle hints. Too many character trees and you will be crying because you can't get your head around every individual story. Not every character has to have an interaction with Lee/Clementine...then, would you not agree it would seem fake? Going out of their way to provide a developed backstory or motivation for every single character JUST so the 'player' can view them in such a way?
"Choices making little to no difference from each other" Meaning you have gone back and done second play-throughs or seen others experiences. Since when did a choice have to make so much of a difference? This is a story with a beginning and an end, but the means of getting there and the interaction between characters are what gives it the emotional depth. I have no doubt on your first play through these choices did not concern you, actually no, they didn't concern you until you came back and discovered the difference it made. It's about the player not what TellTale is doing to 'change' things. Every choice has an individual context based on the player and personal morals etc. Examples please so I can explain further.
"Character favouritism" No comment. Again, very hard to discuss without examples...
Anyway...things I'd like improved are character animations, especially in places where you are given movement, very clunky etc. Fixes in skipping of frame rates. Just to make it more believable, not using the same voice actors for different characters. Playing The Wolf Among Us and then coming to this got very distracting sometimes hahaha.
Story-wise and choice-wise is completely up to the writer in my opinion.
Also...the points I made also go to the people above me.
Keep in mind that I'm referencing the criticism Season 2 had and posting a few here that feels relevant to how they may affect the quality of Season 3. They're not necessarily my own, and if I were to list every valid critiques with as many details as possible, it would fill up the entire screen, and no one wants that.
The issues with the writing in Season 2 is more complicated than just simply what I listed. We'd be here all day if I were to list them down.
Clem being the protagonist again. I still want Clem in season 3, don't get me wrong, but she was so boring in season 2. I honestly didn't really care about her that much compared to season 1. I want her to have a deuteragonist role again and her personality will be based on the dialogue choices you made in season 2 and maybe even a choice or two from season 1. I want an adult female protagonist now. We've had an adult male, female child, it's only fair if it's an adult female now. I don't want to play as a kid again. Edith would be cool if we all end up at Wellington no matter what, which I feel like we will. Yeah I know TTG said that "the endings will matter" but they also said that 400 Days would be super important and look at how that turned out. I'm afraid we'll only get a brief reference from Clem about the endings. I would LOVE to be proven wrong. I'm just not getting my hopes up for anything concerning season 3.
Lack of hubs. Hubs are good, hubs are great, hubs are something we all appreciate.
Short episodes. 2+ hours episodes again, please!
Determinant characters dying in the same episode (cough Sarah cough).
Determinants being virtually invisible after they are saved (cough Nick cough).
Having to take care of AJ throughout all of season 3. I care about him, I don't want him dead, but I hope my Clem can just hand him off to someone in Wellington who's actually capable of taking care of a baby. I don't want to play Apocalyptic Babysitter Simulator 2015/2016.
Lack of character development.
Characters getting "lucky, real lucky." No more old characters overshadowing the new, interesting ones, please.
Obvious character favoritism. Yeah no, Clem should've died from the gun shot. Why should I worry about Clem's safety if I know she's gonna be fine no matter what? This is boring, Telltale. You're boring me right now. Also Kenny if he's still alive/you're with him. Kenny is actually one of my top 4 favorite characters in TWDG, but even I'm getting very annoyed with the blatant favoritism.
Everyone dies in the end. This is also boring and it makes me not want to care about anyone.
Repeated character arcs (cough Kenny cough).
Episode length (go back to season 1 ep length)
Characters dying needless deaths (Sarah,nick, etc etc)
Too much death ruining an episode (I know its called the walking dead but some of the best episodes have been when you're learning about other characters backgrounds etc)
The writing........(s2 ep4.........)
Time skips (feels a cheap way to progress the story)
Things that are puuurfect: the music/background/slide themes,the.V.A, and the graphics
I just...egh
I dont want clementine to be in it, so that i can imagine Kenny lives on and because Clementine is one of the most boring characters ever. But if she HAS to be in it, i hope that the endings play a major, MAJOR role. Also id like determinants to matter and actual choices on who you can like or not rather than having forced relationships (Kenny, Jane, Luke, etc.)
Maybe but Telltale already said that Season 2 endings will have a big role in Season 3 so there is 99% chance that her story isn't over.
Clementine put on the side lines
Various determinant characters fates not resolved
More new characters, who are interesting, yet are just walker bait
Plus, finally settling down at a good place that lasts a good long time and focus on making a living (wishful thinking)
Clementine not being the PC.
Wasted character development/potential, like Season 2's Cabin Group
-Having under developed characters
-Not having choices that are actually important/matter in future episodes (ex. Episode 4. Why the hell is "Did you hold the baby?" a choice? Holding the baby doesn't do shit to the story line)
-Clem not being the PC
-Not being able to explore places and discovering different things that could effect you in later episodes
-Episodes not being long enough (Season 1 eps were like 2 - 2 1/2 hours, Season 2 eps didn't even break an hour and a half)
-Overall, just having a shitty time playing the game that I love despite Season 2 failures
Clementine in general. I care about her well-being, mental state, and safety. I know she's gonna get hurt if she comes back in S3, but I still worry.
The Telltale engine fucking up. Telltale has gotta have this shit down by now. Bugs/glitches, terrible transitions, gameplay stuff not saving needs attention.
The story's consistency. As much as I love S2, Telltale writers need to make sure everything flows well and not have another ep.4.
Less plot device characters, preferably none. (Especially ones that start out interesting and then end up with no real development.)
That it is similar to season 2 with extremely short episodes and barely any hubs and chances to talk with mah peeps
My biggest worry is Kennys determinant status, which could lead to his death very early on in Season 3; Episode 1. I'd prefer to have our choices actually count and I'd be exceedingly happy if Kenny was there for the majority of the Season. My other worry is, new interesting characters getting introduced only to become Walker dinner later on in this episode.
In my opinion, these are some issues that need to be looked into for S3.
Apart from these issues im pretty confident in Telltale for S3.
Clem being the main character
I think the only ending where you can see a new chapter is being set up is the Alone ending. The Kenny and Jane ones seem to bring a good end to her story.
But I want Clem to return as the protagonist.
Ehh that depends on how you view the endings, it can be argued either way if it's conclusive or is setting up for the next chapter in the story.
This is a conclusive ending to ten episodes of character development? Waling into a horde of zombies with a baby in silence?
All I feel that season 2 could have done better was give us a few hubs here and there to meet and know something about our characters, maybe factor in a little more length to the episodes and I think we're all good
Even if you didn't like the ending, which I understand since I'm not a fan of it either, it's still had a conclusive feel to it.
As clumsy and unrealistic at this ending was presented, it did display Clementine as being determined, brave, and independent enough to look after AJ just as Lee looked after her.
No character development.
It was no more conclusive than Clementine leaving Lee at the end of season 1.
You could read those things itno it, but you can do that to basically every scene. That doesn't mean all scenes would be a good ending.
Lets be honest, No ending is ever going to be concrete, aside from death its hard to get a decent hard ending. So I accept the endings of season 2 (some being better than others ). I felt clem shooting lee was a different sort of ending. I'd honestly take anything over just everyone dying
On another example i loved the last of us ending and the wolf among us ending, thought it was great though everyone else seems to hate it or think it needs a sequal.
I don't want to sound like i'm bashing, however I would like them to start fresh, with new characters/storyline. I do not want Clementine as protagonist, i'm happy with my Kenny/Clem ending. I would be happy with just leaving it with that. I would ask that they do not do the gradual kill off like they did in the first two seasons, they need to fix determinants so it is not a death sentence. Put more hubs, so the game doesn't feel so fast paced all the time. My next request would be them to develop the story with as few plot holes as possible, every time you hit a plot hole imo it breaks immersion.
Here's my two cents:
Season 2 was decent. However, after Ep. 2, it felt like we were largely rushed from location to location with little chance for character development. Make Season 3 like how Season 1 was. Let us wander around and interact with the environment, picking things up and solving puzzles.
And for the characters, don't kill everyone off. It's really old and we should have had more characters survive Season 2. We all loved Clementine at one point, but it can't survive with just one character. It needs more people to make it when those final credits roll. After all, that's what keeps us invested in the game.
my biggest concern is that Clementine will not be the PC. I want to continue on with her story and develop her more as a survivor
my other concern is that every NPC will die or become unknown/determinant
and that dialogue options wont vary much or affect relationships
To be fair, that ending scene was also a cliff-hanger, to set up for Season 2.
I didn't get that vibe in the Alone ending, it didn't give us many hints for what's to come for Season 3 other than Clementine is more competent and knowledgeable about survival than she was before.
I'm actually really hoping for AJ to be killed off, he's so unrealistic its made his very survival an annoying error that needs to be fixed.