The idea of determinant characters was amazing, but failed(Carley Doug were the only ones developed)
When I Started to play TWD i found the idea amazing, especially after seeing the development of Carley / Doug. I was excited thinking of reasonable different stories depending on these characters. Carley And Doug became memorable. But when it came to season 2. It was a disaster. Nick being saved in episode 2 but then not doing anything, except a 2 lines of dialogue before he died. Sarah dont needs a comment, was like "Thanks Clem, you saved my life! AAAAAAAAAAH DIED" if it was a comedy show I would have laughed, BUT WTF?! And BONNIE? OH MY GOD, HIS DEATH WAS THE MOST STUPID BECAUSE CLEMENTINE SIMPLE STOP, WATCHING LUKE AND BONNIE drowning DOING NOTHING( and they they take a year to die if you left, i .I could not believe when I saw that on youtube. I know some peoples killed Bonnie on the scene after seeing the betrayal, but that moment is first of all, then follow the common gameplay is illogical let her die without doing anything. I didnt know that Bonnie would be determinant, after seeing the wiki I was like "WTF When She can die? What the hell is this ?. I know many already talked about it, but what is the cause of moving from incredible determinant characters to determinant boring characters who are completely forgotten after saved? (The second death of Alvin was Badass and I was OK with it, still he could have lived more) how you would handle a determinant character?
R.I.P Carley/Doug. #neverforget
- BEN DERSERVES A HONROR MENTION HERE
Comments
Ben and Carley were the best examples of determinant characters for me. Saving them felt like you gained something out of it, they opened up unique story bits that you couldn't get otherwise. Carley gets the whole romance subplot, and tries to convince Lee to talk about his past. That's something that you can't get if she isn't alive, and it allows a player to further build the character of Lee if they so desire. Ben gets to experience a semi-redemption arc, and also plays a role in Kenny's character.
Saving Nick does... nothing at all really. He's shoehorned into the background for most scenes, stands around at the campfire when they're coming up with a plan and feels more like some awkward bystander than he does a member of the group. Then he just gets an unceremonious off-screen death that feels like "Remember this guy? Because we sure don't! Now feel bad for him!"
Look at it this way, if you saved Ben, then had a friend that dropped him ask "Hey, does anything interesting happen if you save Ben?" you can rattle off a good list of things that happened and changed due to him being alive that your friend missed out on.
If you saved Nick and your friend asks you the same thing, there's literally nothing you miss from saving him. There's no interesting dialogue, no interesting developments, pretty much nothing note-worthy about his character going forward.
DAMMIT, I FORGOT ABOUT BEN BEING DETERMINANT.i saved him without hesitate, you're right
Good Determinant Characters:
Season 1:
-Chet
-Doug
-Carley
-Andy St. John
-Danny St. John
-Ben
-Boyd
Season 2:
-Alvin
-Kenny
I've said it quite a lot but determinants can only really work if you have a one or the other type thing.
Not an exact choose one or the other however your actions lead to one out of two characters dying. That way the characters can still do things as their has to be one in each playthrough. Ben and Alvin are the best they've done with a single character and even then they stand in the background most of the time. So overall the carley/doug route is the only way it would ever work.
How was Danny and Andy St. John good determinants? As soon as you make the choice, you never see them again.
And Boyd hardly does anything in the DLC if he's alive.
And Alvin was gone the whole time.
And people wonder why i think Season 2 sucked..
What about Pete? He gets a really cool scene.
The St. Johns were good because choosing to kill them or spare them was a great way to figure out who your Lee was.
Boyd being alive and talking about his guilt is what I thought was good.
And Alvin had his second death was heroic and very well done,
Saving someone already bitten in place of someone totally healthy sounds weird. I save Nick because I thought One of them was gonna die here. I mean, If Pete was alone, Bitten and you have to choose between save him risking your life or abandon him i would save Pete. He gets a emotional scene and all, but I knew he was dead, the moment I saw his bite, If we could at least amputate his leg would be another situation. But he simple dies after being saved some hours ago. If i was in place of Pete, i would ask Nick to shoot me, or the zombies for escape and kill myself with a gun after