One writer for Season 3?
Though Season 1 and Season 2 both had different writers working on different episodes, it seems that with the leaving of Vanaman, it seems Season 2 took a turn for the worst in terms of its writing. Not to say it's as bad as fans seemed to believe it was, but Season 1 had better writing in places.
Except for one little gem that shone through, which was Nick Breckon. During the course of Season 2, episodes such as 'A House Divided' and 'No Going Back' were generally liked by fans in terms of story and choice and consequence. Another thing I noticed was that there was praise for Nick Breckon, who was lead writer of this season and wrote three episodes (two of which 'All That Remains' and 'No Going Back' were co-written with Andrew Grant and Pierre Shorette).
So this begs the question: Should Nick Breckon take charge and just write Season 3 by himself? Or should Nick Breckon at least co-write all the episodes and have some involvement in all the episodes?
Personally I'd love to see Breckon and Kirkman team up to manage all the episodes. But what do you think?
Comments
I want to mention we really don't have a say in any of this. It's all Telltale head of staff decisions that we have no sway in, like it or not.
Nick Breckon did a fine job and I understand that writers had to be switched when appropriate, but too many writers with their own ideas and goals for characters/plot that are different from other writers can be a bit messy. I have no doubt telltale heard the outcry from fans about all the little things that made S2 seem off-putting to them, but let them tell the story that they want to tell.
DID we play the same Season 2?
Want season 3 to be a success hire someone else, and stop rehashing the same tired old plotlines, OVER AND OVER again. If i see Christa or Lily , or anyone else from Clementine's past, that she just magically runs into because of "lucky." I will lose my mind. Write the story in a realistic, touching, feel intensive way, they should use S2 as a example of what NOT to do.
Personally, I think there should be more than one but they shouldn't be switching them out all the time and making changes.
Or killing off the characters every season. Am i the only one who finds that to be stupid? Imagine if the television show killed off every cast member except Carl. They keep on cycling on new people, just to kill them off, am i going to care about these people? Why would i?
Pretty good point, it would be nice to see some people last a while other than Clem and a Determinant forever facial-hair growing Kenny, hard to attach to people when you know 99% of them are gonna die later in the season. I mean, I wasn't that attached that much to any of the new characters in Season 2 except for Pete but he died early. (I liked some others but when they died I was just like "Oh.....That was gonna happen soon anyways....")
Pretty much, that is how i felt about Nick when he got made determinant status, as soon as that happened i knew not to care, because you turn your feelings off, and don't care, because why? Its just going to piss you off when it happens. Like if they bring Kenny/Jane back as determinant they will do a quick death Omid style in the first thirty seconds.
You know they will. They love the rehash.
Nick Breckon was definitely the best writer from Season 2, all of his episodes were great, had impactful choices, and character development, he should definitely be Season 3's head writer, but there's no way he can be the only writer, that's way too much work. He needs a team of writers to assist with the other episodes, even Vanaman in Season 1 had other writers (Season 1 had Mark Darin and Gary Whitta, Season 2 had Andrew Grant, Pierre Shorette, Eric Stirpe, and J.T. Petty). And even in Season 1, Vanaman wasn't involved with every episode, I just think that the writers in Season 1 were on the same page more than the writers of Season 2. In my opinion, Season 3's writers should be Breckon, Mark Darin, and Pierre Shorette (it definitely seems like he will be writing some of Season 3 since, at a recent Telltale panel, someone asked about TWD and someone on the panel said, "Pierre you can answer this."). But back to Breckon, his episodes were definitely the strongest in terms of writing and is, in my opinion, one of the best writers at Telltale.
I don't know, I'm not really a businessman or a leader, but it seems to be working for them. I mean they've used multiple writers for most of their games they've and it works brilliantly.
It would be nice if Nick returned to writing for Season 3. However, I believe that Season 3 shouldn't have a lead writer. All writers involved should just work together and share the exact same ideas. This way, the story will be more consistent and well written. With Season 2, it seemed like Nick Breckon had an original story, but once EP3 and EP4 came out with other writers, the characters and story changed.
Season 1 had a head writer, Sean Vanaman, and the writing was pretty consistant throughout.
I still remember when everyone hated Nick Breckon after episode 1.
Nah, people hated on it all the time when it was released, peopel were calling Breckon an imposter and were demanding the season 1 writers returned.
The hate was slightly drowned out by the rise of the KDB though.
I thought people generally liked All That Remains? I rarely see any criticize it and A House Divided (which Breckon also wrote).
Really, interesting. It's actually kind of funny considering Mark Darin (writer of Starved for Help) was the head designer and Sean Vanaman had an additional writing credit on this episode.
Yeah. That's because Season 1 had less writers and only one writer per episode. Three of which entirely written by Sean. The writers of Season 1 must've had more time to consolidate their ideas too. But with Season 2, we seen that having more writers on episodes can negatively affect the writing. Which is why Telltale shouldn't have a lead writer anymore, if there is to be more writers. Unless, Telltale goes back to the working methods of Season 1.
The initial reaction to it wasn't the best. It was the introduction to the 90 minute formula and some people did not like the way it just went off and ended after choosing either Nick or Pete. I guess it was dampened after people saw the bigger picture.
The lead writer should really write the 1st, 3rd, and 5th episodes. That way the overall story is managed by the lead writer and details might be better as well as choices.
LOL ok.
I wouldn't authorize him to write for a child's newspaper. He and his buddies wrote that plot into the ground, and now it is terrible. He wrote a GOTY Game, to slightly better than average game. Look at the metascore, stop thinking like a fan and realize it wasn't as good as you think it was.
Honestly i would contact people from these forums to write the next season, there are some very talented writers on these forums. Then trust Nick to write the Table of Contents to the instruction booklet. I'm sure he would find a way to ruin that as well, but we got to give him a chance for redemption right lol.
Weren't you saying to me a few weeks ago that reviews aren't an accurate representation of a game. I brought up how J.T. Petty wrote Outlast, which got some great reviews, and you said something along the lines of how reviews mean nothing. Now you're saying reviews are an accurate representation of the game, seems kind of hypocritical of you don't you think. And even the Metacritic reviews of TWDS2 are pretty good, low to mid 80's, TWDS1 was always around the same mark as well. The only episode that wasn't from Season 2 was Amid the Ruins, which was high 70's. And I'm not thinking like a fan, that's such a hackneyed argument at this point for people who can't come up with anything better.
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One writer? No, no. Season 1 had multiple writers and it was good. We just need lead writer to write at least 3 episodes of the Season (for example episode 1, 3 and 5 so the story could go as he planned). You know what would be the best? If he/she could write EVERY episode or at least 2-3 episode and co-write the rest.
Btw. you're asking who should be lead writer? I'd say Sean Vanaman but because he isn't working for Telltale anymore... then Nick Breckon.
Wow, everyone? I don't remember that I hated him. To be honest, after my first episode 1 playthrough I found it pretty good and I couldn't wait for episode 2.
Have I insulted anyone? Show me the insult and i will take it back, no problem. K thx.
This was mainly about Nick Breckon, a writer for S2. That looks like an insult to me.
The world is run on hypocrisy. Here is the truth, people use reviews as judgements on whether to purchase said game or not.
Weren't you the one who said, Season 2 was better than Season 1. If that isn't loyalty i don't know what is.
I have never said Season 2 was better than Season 1, I've always felt Season 1 is the better game, but I also like Season 2 and believe both are great games. Season 1 is like a 9.5, Season 2 is like a 9.0.
Well i'm going to excuse myself from this conversation, I disagree most of everyone here anyways.
WELL IF Nick was offended by my comment I am sorry, now he should apologize for Season 2.
That's great idea. Maybe developers of Dragon Age, Battlefield or Batman Arkham Series should apologize to everyone who didn't liked their products.
Follow the rules dude like everyone else. It's that thing you agreed to when you first signed on.
If there was going to be one writer, or at least one writer who oversaw every decision in the story, than I would say Nick Brekon is the best option.
You don't think Bioware has cause to apologize for Mass Effect 3...
OK.
And you think that developers should apologize to players who don't like their games?
Ok.
YES DAD.
Your grounded mister.
Too late, i got passport in hand and i'm half way out the door, you will never find me.
I'm RUNNING AWAY.
I think Telltale has had multiple writers for their Seasons since like 2010 or so. Other series by Telltale - modern and classic alike - don't really hurt from having multiple writers. Season 2 didn't seem to have as much of a direction as Season 1's plot at times in my personal opinion, but I'd say that's the exception and not the rule speaking from experience of having played a strong majority of Telltale's titles.
Yeah they should if they expect the customers to buy a sequel, then they better start kissing ass. BTW you didn't answer my question about Bioware, no answer.
Look at the controversy of Rome 2, and see what the fans thought of the development team when that was released.
You forget about the fact that there are two sides of the coin - fans who like the game and fans who don't. If you think that developers can create a game which will be praised and highly rated by everyone then you're in great mistake. There are always people who don't like something in game, or book, or movie but that doesn't mean that people or person who created it need to apologize for the fact that different people has different tastes.
In other words - fact that you don't like Season 2 doesn't mean that everyone has the same opinion... or even that your opinion is the right one. I'm not saying that it's wrong. It depends on point of view.