A Bit Dissapointing (SPOILERS)
Okay so I'm normally forgiving to Telltale and their episodes but this episode was just well...dissapointing. I mean it was good, but damn I'd give it a 7.5 at best. It had so much potential. Okay, so let's divide it.
Well the fight with Jersey is the best fight that's been in the game so far. Watching Jersey transform, roar, and fighting him back as the Woodsman gets the axe was a thrilling and tense scene that really worked well. Though I feel that the quick-time events are somewhat a bit too easy and the timer for them should be slightly shorter just to keep the fighting on edge. But nonetheless a really great fighting scene. Loved it.
Scenes were handled well and I do SOMEWHAT like the characters (even though why Beast and Beauty have now become some high-end people who desire for their royal life came across as extremely out of character) and dialogue was handled pretty well none of it seemed too odd or anything. Things weren't really tense until the end when Bigby steps into the Crooked Mans room (You don't know how much I wanted to say Crooked Mans Den) and we see all the different characters.
This is a bit more lenient but I do somewhat like how the story evolved from a simple murder mystery to a war between a Corrupt Political Power to well...Corruption. But it would still be nice if this story focused on mainly the murder mystery and then have the story progress into the second season which would show the corruption behind Fabletown. But still, it is nice to see the story actually develop.
Now the bad? This isn't an Episode 4. What happened to the tense cliffhanger? Bigby (in my game) just takes out his lighter and lights up his cigarette. That's it? That's not a cliffhanger at all. Why couldn't the cliffhanger be we see a set of legs approach from the shadows of a corner in the room, and then Bigby turns looks at the person (is clearly shocked) and we see who is "In Sheeps Clothing" (bassicacly the killer) and it just ends there. Or how about we just see Bigby looked shock as he sees someone and say "It was you?" and it just ends.
Now the negatives about characters? Okay so about Tiny Tim. We never met him before. Why on earth should I care about him? He just dropped in out of nowhere, you know who would be good? Flycatcher. Or Jack. Or Gren. Why not have the decision that we made in Episode 3 (Depending on which place we decided to investigate first) affect who the Crooked Man hires to wait for Bigby (and then later have The Crooked Man reveal that he chose them as a guard to try and convince Bigby to go somewhat easy on him). But whatever. Also I'm not forgetting Beauty and Beast, Beauty in the first episode come across as mysterious and someone we should look out for. In the second episode it was (somewhat abruptly) revealed what she was doing and most people including me felt sorry for her and really learnt how bad the situation in Fabletown was due to her position just to make sure she can live in an apartment.
Then we learn that she just wants a royal lifestyle and both her and Beast are happy to delve into criminal activities just to afford this. Beautiful, one scene. One scene and I no longer even care about them, not a single iota of myself forgives them or feel sorry for what has happenned to them. Great, nice job. You just made two notable characters in the entire series useless to me, all emotional attachment just died.
Also this isn't an Episode 4? This is more like an Episode 2. Other than the ending scene (before that "cliffhanger") and the fight with Jersey, none of it is very tense. Characters weren't "working against the clock", in fact Episode 3 was more tense than this. Decisions weren't exactly that hard to make either. I mean they seemed tough at first but no they weren't at all. There wasn't a decision such as "Save X or Save Y".
What makes this worse is that this could have had potential. It had big potential, and yes I still love Telltale and forgive them for this but it doesn't make it any better. I feel like I wasted my time caring about these characters. I mean for goodness sake we interacted with Colin ONCE throughout the entire series so far.
But I know Telltale is stressed (I mean having to work on four games at once) and I'm not exactly a business type of person but shouldn't they have waited until 2015 to truly begin work on Tales from the Borderlands or Game of Thrones? Shouldn't 2014 had just solely been dedicated to The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us and nothing else.
I'd rather have two good series, then play through two and start another two at the end of the year. But still like I said I forgive Telltale and perhaps they can pull off an amazing series finale.
Overall I give this episode a 7 out of 10.
But, what do you guys think? Was this episode better for you? Do you think they can pull this off?
Comments
1, they have separate teams for each game, not a group of people working on four games at once. 2, the lighting a cigarette ending was fuckin' badass. 3, Beauty and Beast are very much in-character here, having read the comics myself, although they get better.
I think they can, episode 4 was supposed to prepare us for the final. The episode was a bit shorter, but still, it was enough and well done. Too bad the story was rewriten and Colin forgot how we treated him in episode 1, Toad too. Tiny Tim probably works for The Crooken Man since some time, in episode 1 we see him waiting in the line to the Business Ofice and at the end of episode 3 we see him as the driver of The Crooked Man. The problem is not only about Beauty and Beast, all the fables have a hard time. The Business Office is not helping them at all(It`s not only about Ichabod Crane, Snow mentioned that the way they did things was wrong the whole time) so they choose the alternative(The Crooked Man).
How are they "in-character"? Their motivations are horrible. It's like if you're getting bankrupt but you only want to keep the mone to keep living in a mansion, rather than take your money and live in the suburbs. I don't care about them anymore, if their only motivation is the concern they wont get to keep their nice cushy furniture then fine.
Also it doesn't take away from the fact the episode is still dissapointing, and I never mentioned the episoes length whatsoever, I really didn't have a problem with it. Also simply saying "lighting the cigarette at the end is badass" doesn't mean that it was a good cliffhanger. Nothing is getting me "excited" or "pumped" for the next episode, because I have no idea where they're going to take it.
We confront the Crooked Man and what? Do we burn down his empire, will we get a choice? Will it go into a second season? What? What at all makes me concerned for the safety of Bigby or the other characters? It's not like they seemed to be in trouble with the preview (other than Bigby having to fight Bloody Mary but she doesn't seem to be using her gun so she's not really a threat until we see her melee skills).
I loved the episode, I had fun playing it and was well entertained. That's the purpose of playing a game.
That's good, I respect you and your opinion and I'm glad you enjoyed the episode. I see that however as one of the purposes of playing the game, I want to be entertained but being "entertained" can also mean something can be so bad you'll laugh at it. Not the state, Wolf Among Us is in far from it. However I don't ever want it to reach that state. Ever.
Why does having bad motivations prevent it from being 'in-character'?
wow i feel kinda bad saying i totally agree with everything your saying. it didnt feel like an episode 4 at all. if anything i feel like this episode just kinda reiterated what everyone was suspecting. there was nothing truly shocking about this episode. and i totally feel what ur saying about beauty and beast. i was so mad at them and gave them a hard time for having no problem borrowing so much money just to keep their lifestyle. Like wtf! there are so many fables living in worse conditions (they made me hate rich people XD) and then they ask if we could just fix their problems, the nerve!
Okay, let's take it into consideration. We assumed from the way Beauty acted, the way Beast felt bad for Beauty (after finding out she WORKED at the 'Open Arms) and Beautys secrecry proves that Beauty was embaressed she had to stoop so low to "scrape by" and even mentions she only works at the "Open Arms" to avoid eviction.
We all thought that meant the Fabletown community was facing this problem of eviciction due to not being able to find work. However we then learn that they're not really concerned with having to work at those places so long as there is work (to the point where Beast simply wants to openly work at the Butcher) and not mainly because they're scared of "eviction" but so they can live a royal lifestyle.
That's it? They don't seem concerned that they will most likely be homeless they're most worried about losing their royal lifestyle. They don't care about having shelter, electricity, a bed to sleep on, etc. They care about a royal lifestyle. That is stupid.
Their motivation just changed in an episode. Great.
Well.. I found the game amazing! the ending was not really a cliffhanger indeed, but still left me curious and looking forward to the end! this EP was my best gameplay so far, i didn't regret any of my decisions, and even work toguether and resumed a bit of old friendship with The Woodsman. that fight with Jersey was really cool! 0_0
I really hope they make a Season 2 TWAU!
Glad you enjoyed the episode.