It's time for a new story
There was always a goal in The Walking Dead, and we spent 2 seasons trying to reach that goal. That goal was trying to get Clementine to "the promised land of safety". First we were given hope that the promised land could be the ocean, and with time it was revealed that it could be found in Wellington. A lot of people died to bring Clementine to this place of safety.
We have reached the conclusion of that story. I think it would be very artificial for TellTale to make Wellington fall (it has stood for 2 years since the Zombie Apocalypse began) just when Clementine appears. It would also reduce believability that a safe place could be found anywhere else.
TellTale would doing its creative work and its fans a great disservice by now making Wellington unsafe and getting Clementine to run around in circles forever just so they can keep milking the franchise. I understand that they want to make more money and that we want to continue to be entertained. But it won't work by undermining the premise that a safe haven can be found.
I loved Clementine. She's one of my favorite characters in a computer game. But it's time for TellTale to continue the tale from another character's perspective. It's not possible to continue the story from her perspective without diluting the experience we already had.
Moreover, trying to reconcile the different paths would increase the number of errors in the game. For e.g., if you didn't shoot Lee in Season 1 (learning the lesson from Lee that killing changes you), Clementine still tells Kenny in Season 2 that she had to shoot him. WTF? How can they make a mistake about such an important choice? By the end of Season 2, Clementine's character also diverges considerably. She can either turn into someone like Lee or someone like Crawford. How are they going to reconcile the two? If she talks about Kenny later, is she going to say that she went with him and refused to part, went with him and had to part, or shot him and went with the person who planned his murder? The number of mistakes in the dialogue will increase.
Here is an example of how the different choices can be converged, and the story can advance:
Choice 1. Clementine goes with Jane to Howe's and sends the family away. Walkers attack, Jane gets killed and Clem goes with the family to Wellington. Clem, AJ and the boy are accepted. But the parents get turned away, and the story continues with the parents.
Choice 2. Clementine goes with Jane to Howe's and accepts the family. Walkers attack, Jane gets killed and Clem goes with the family to Wellington. Clem, AJ and the boy are accepted. But the parents get turned away, and the story continues with the parents.
Choice 3. Clementine wanders alone in the blizzard with AJ, and finds the family. They find Wellington. Clem, AJ and the boy are accepted. But the parents get turned away, and the story continues with the parents.
Choice 4. Clementine goes with Kenny to Wellington. Kenny begs them to take Clementine and AJ and Kenny walks off, never to be seen again. The family comes to Wellington and the parents are turned away. The boy enters Wellington, and the story continues with the parents.
Choice 5. Clementine goes with Kenny to Wellington. Clementine cries and refuses to leave Kenny, as he's family and family do not get left behind. They walk off with the supplies, but Kenny is killed by a walker attack. Clementine, carrying AJ, meets the family. The family goes with them to Wellington and the parents are turned away. The boy enters Wellington, and the story continues with the parents.
Comments
If its gonna be a new story, I don't want it be anyone that we already have met, even if its for a brief moment.
I want to keep playing as Clementine. Starting from scratch would make me lose my interest.
That's actually quite a good write up there Hugo but I have to disagree that it's time for a new story. I do agree at some point it would be cool to branch out into a different set of characters but...
I feel Clementines story is only just beginning. I feel there is so much life left in her as a character, it doesn't feel like it's time to end it just yet. It's sometime sad when your favorite game, movie, tv series is coming to an end, but you know it's time. I just feel that if Clementines story were to end, it should have a much more conclusive ending, I think another Season with her character to finish up her story ark would be great. After that I'd fully welcome a new story.
You forget that if Clem doesnt believe Wellington exists, she has no reason to go look for it.
That's true, but as you know, all in-game decisions converge because of the limitation of resources, and the necessity to not invalidate player choices.
If she has reached Wellington in one choice, she would have to either reach there in the other choices or leave Wellington. I think it would really suck for Wellington to suddenly become unsafe once she reaches there.
Depending on your choices on season 3, there should be unique endings similar to bioshock 2. "evil", cold survivor who does anything to survive and from there to other extreme, someone who cares about humanity/walker.. Multiple different scenes which show how Clementine turned out to be.
Hypothetically if her story continues into Episode 3 I'd be all for all endings converging into Wellington. Episode 3 of Season 1 could be paced so much differently than the rest of the series in a good way. Whether there be a few year timeskip, a few month timeskip, or hell, pick up straight where Season 2 ended. 75% of episode 1 could be completely relaxed and calm.
Have most of the episode with Clementine socializing with all the people, running errands, making friends, taking care of AJ etc. It would bring the series down a notch from all the intensity of the previous seasons and than build backup throughout each episode, until you reach episode #5 where you would have built up all the emotional intensity into a final conclusion to her story (If they want to end it there). It would be a welcome change of pace in the series, and I think it would be really cool to see something like that done
Oh I agree with some of that, it's just Season 2 had no conclusive ending, and if her story just ends with that, I will be really annoyed.
Yeah, I also don't like to part with characters. I didn't like several character's deaths, but they were a part of the story.
I also don't think Clementine will die. I think her ending is to find a place of safety. Finding Wellington is probably her conclusive ending. That said, I expect that she would be in the first episode of Season 3, or have some sort of cameo appearance, similar to Lee.
Honestly I wouldn't mind if we played as someone new, it'd also be interesting to meet characters we used to know, though that might ruin your immersion a bit because the character shouldn't know them. As long as season 3's story is good, I couldn't care less about who we play as.
I certainly agree with some of that, but the Wellington ending was only 1 out 5 potential endings. Each every other ending didn't feel like a major story ark finale. I'd be really pissed if they just dropped her story without giving us all a completely conclusive ending.
Edit: 1/5 not 1/4
Technically 1 of 5 endings with the alone ending having some variants.
I completely disagree with not having Clem in Season 3. Not having Clementine would seem like a waste of time, money and her story considering she has pretty much been the lead character in The Walking Dead. After all, the whole game is built around her so you can't just cut her off. She is still a kid at the moment and there is much more potential in her character. Plus, we are coming toward her teenage years and so it will only get better. This series is about our versions of a girl named Clementine ( what ever her last name is ) life in an apocalypse. That's it. Also, you don't know if Wellington started exactly 2 years ago, when the apocalypse began. For all we know it could've started 5 months before Christa heard about it, so it isn't artificial if Wellington does fall. Which is the only thing I see happening if you chose that option.
Agreed.
Oh, I get what you're saying now. I agree that the other 4 endings were not conclusive.
I do think that Clem would have to be in Season 3, but it can't be the whole season. After all, in one of the branches, she's already reached Wellington before the season starts. After that, there's not much to do, unless they make Wellington unsafe. That's why I expect her to be in the first episode (not as the player character).
Personally, I'd like a low-intensity episode myself
While playing Season 2, I wished the time at the lodge were longer.
I agree with your whole comment, except the part about Wellington.
I don't think telltale would have another place built-up just to have it fall again, (Crawford, Howe's).
I think telltale also won't have Clementine be in it the whole series, i think if we do stay at Wellington, then for the first two episodes we will be there, then there will be an event or a choice in which we leave Wellington and go somewhere else.
I actually loved the fact that Season 2 was just super intense all the way through. They had to do something to counteract the fact they probably couldn't have gotten the play as emotional as they were in Season 1, and it worked in the confines of the story they were telling.
But Yeah that's what I'm hoping for in Season 3. A more gradual build up between the emotional and intense moments, if they (Hypothetically) continue on from Wellington, it's the perfect time to bring the intensity down a notch and build it back up from scratch.
So far, it seems like they pick a different lead character every Season. I hope that tradition continues, since Clementine seems to have reached the end of her story at Wellington. And an end does not have to be death. It can be the opposite.
no
It's not a tradition though. They switched PC because Lee needed to die for Clem's development.
Yeah I couldn't really call switching characters once in a two season series much of a "tradition". I also completely agree with your Comment above about Clementine Wolf.
To me, I've invested roughly two years of my life towards the character of Clementine and this series. It feels like her story has so much more life left in it, going into her teens, growing up and raising a child. It would be such a waste because so few games have done anything like this with a child protagonist, it's one of the most interesting dynamics that I've never experienced before in a game.
Like I said, I'd totally welcome a newer story down the road, but it's just not time to abandon Clementines story-ark. In my opinion I don't see what Telltale could possibly gain from switching stories just yet, aside from pissing off a large portion of your fan base. Clementine is and always will be "Telltale Games The Walking Dead series". This game is her story, and always has been from the very beginning.
This, so much. I agree with everything you said.
I am so emotionally invested in this character that her story (and to me, this is her story and was even when Lee was the PC) ending this way is too underwhelming for a character as important and iconic as her. She's 11. There is so much she can still show us.
Is there really a need for that? And it's not even that much
I can't see TT making a completely new story with completely new and unrelated characters. It just would be a waste of Clementine's story, she has plenty of things ahead of her, her teenage years, raising a child, and there is so much left in Clementine's life that it would be unwise to put her story to rest. It would be a shame for after all that Clementine has went through, for her story to just end just like that.
Did you think that we should have not continued season 2 with Clementine when season 1 ended? Maybe not, because you wanted to see more of Clementine develop and her story be continued. That is exactly what i am talking about here. Telltale should not exclude Clementine or leave her story open to speculation, it should be continued for the sake of Clementine and the game itself.
*Please do not take offense to this message, it was made so that people can be convinced that Clementine's story should be continued.
Is there really any need of your reply? boo.
The truth has just been spoken. Thanks!
It'd certainly be good to end the current storyline with Clem on a high note than to have her artificially made to leave the safety of Wellington.
I understand that characters are not real, so I'm not overly attached, though I miss them when they die.
Why would it be good to end Clem's story like this?
Nah, Clementine was what lured me in, without her I doubt I'd be interested anymore.
No offense taken:) You have the right to your opinion on the forums. Thanks for your comment.
As I argued in the OP, that would be because I feel that it's complete with her safe arrival at Wellington.
So you come into a thread and instead of just leaving you take the time respond and tell the world that you "Didn't read lol"?... I don't know man, seems kind of pointless. Even if you don't agree with the OP, he stated all of his points clearly and is very civil.
Thanks
I felt season 2 was rushed more rather than intense. I'd have preferred the latter.
I don't care who we play. I just want that the main character has some emotions. Clem was cold as ice...
Sorry dude, I don't think this game series is for you haha.
But seriously, could you elaborate on that? You do realize you are able to pick the dialogue, you don't have to be "cold as ice". On top of that, what else do you really expect? The character has been through a lot over the past two seasons.
Well, what if you didn't end the season that way?
And why should her story be complete after her safe arrival at Wellington? She still has plenty of room, (and years), of development and there is plenty of new ways TT can make her story continue. She is such an iconic image in The walking dead that it would be unwise to let her go without ending TWD altogether.
Forum Guidelines §1.3 ... think about it.
there is a problem with that you cant continue a season without clementine or any of the characters it would not be a season 3