Telltale, don't restrict the episode lengths in Season 3.
A part of the reason why Season 1 succeeded more than Season 2 was because of the fact that the writers were allowed to make the episodes as long as they needed them to be. With Season 2, you put a limit on all the episodes and forced them to be an hour and a half, it simply does not work. A result of these shorter episodes limits or outright gets rid of important choices and their consequences, hubs, puzzles, exploration, and character development and only results in the writers cramming everything they need to in an episode and leads to a feeling of the episode being rushed.
Think of an episode like Starved for Help from Season 1, written by Mark Darin. This episode is well over 2 hours long (I believe the first time I played it was 2 and a half hours) and is considered one of the best episodes of TWD. In this episode, we have great character development, hubs, and some puzzles. Imagine an episode like this being forced submit to this 1 hour and a half rule, all the things that would have been cut so that it can fit in the allotted time. It would lead to the same end result, but whole sequences of the episode would need to be taken out so that it fit, such as the who to feed option, it would take away the moments when we are in control of Lee, and characters like the St. Johns wouldn't have been as developed. The episode would not have been nearly as good as it is if Darin was forced to remove some of these parts.
Now look at an episode like In Harms Way from Season 2, written by Pierre Shorette (now In Harms Way is one of my favorite episodes, but since this is considered the most hated episode in the series, I'll use it as an example). In this episode, we have limited control over Clementine, there aren't that many important choices nor do they have consequences (except watching Carver die, but even that doesn't have that much of an affect later on), the 400 Days characters are thrown to the side and have small cameos, and it crams 2 days at Carver's over the course of an hour and a half. Had Shorette been given the freedom to make the episode as long as he needed it, perhaps somethings would have been different. Nick could have played a much larger role, we could have seen more development of other characters, we could have learned more about Carver's community, and much more. And before any one says that it's because Pierre Shorette is a shit writer, I point to Faith and Zero Sum that he is a great writer.
These shorter episodes lengths are simply not working and cut back on important aspects of the episodes and only crams more down the throats of the player. We are seeing with the new episode of GOT and TFTBL that you are at least considering bringing back the longer episodes and are allowing the writers to make the episodes as long as they need, I just hope to see it continue into TWD S3.
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I don't think the episodes necessarily need to be longer, but let them be as long as they need to be to make them feel gratifying. I know they say that the narrative will always take precedence, but they need to remember that it's still a VIDEO GAME...players want to PLAY the game, not just watch it. S2 felt more like a semi interactive short film, which isn't horrible, but we want to play the game
Yeah bring some more content up in this game series! Perhaps Telltale was experimenting with the lengths of the episodes to see what felt right and with the outcry from the majority of it's fans we see that it was not the way to go. Look at TFTB and GOT, we got longer episodes now (despite what IGN says) and hopefully that will flow into TWD S3.
Also I'd like to point out that if we do get longer episodes, we will probably get longer waiting times between episodes soooo that'll be tons of fun to watch the impatient people of the internet.
Every time I was playing an S2 Episode I knew it would end at a 90 minute time limit. This made it feel artificial and we didn't have time for HUBs or character interaction. As a whole the fucking game is barely 6 hours where as Season 1 was 10 or 11. Very half assed
Season 3's episodes should be as long as Around Every Corner was. That episode was really long.
I think they should be limited to 90 minutes. Before you tell me how wrong I am, just hear me out. T.V shows are 45 minutes long (or around that) if you split the episodes in half, it's 45 minutes. Split 5 episodes into 2 and you have 10, that's about a length of a series. Now, TWDG is a bit like a show rather than a game. So really the 90 minute limit makes sense.
yes, but it's still a video game. I don't want any video game I play to only take 2 hrs to play. That's a waste of money. Gamers worldwide would go ape shit if Halo took only 3 hrs to play...so a game to be completed in less than 24 hrs is kind of a rip off
But it isn't a TV show, it's a game!
Season 2 felt like one of Quantic Dream's interactive movied which aren't games. That's not what we want
Ignore my comment.
Considering I'm only paying $5 per episode, I don't expect long episodes. 90 minutes for $5 is fine to me.
That's one of the main reasons S2 never reached S1's succes imo. The hubs were great because you could get to know the characters. Every time i tried to strike a connection with S2's characters, i couldn't get one because we never had anytime to connect with them. Luke is only connected with so many girl fans because his cute and looked after Clementine. Same thing with Carley. She had a alot of character development but because they hinted at a possible relationship, that's why she became so popular.
Well i think A New Day is one of the best, but a lot of people don't. In fact the majority don't, because they felt it was lacking action and was more of an introduction to them. I loved it. Every scene in the episode was great and the character building was perfect. The reason why the ST Johns looked strong was as you said, more time to build them up. Carter was good but he seemed poorly wasted. More like they were going for shock value to get people to hate him rather then build him up mysteriously like the ST Johns.
People like to say people are shit at this when they don't get what they wanted but you never see them being writers for game of the year games do you? lol
I thought Amid the Ruins was considered the worst episode of S2? Anyway, In Harms Way was really messed up, 400 days characters are now cameo people, which makes you wonder why 400 days was even made. Nick was ruined in what was one of the worst things telltale has done. Why build him up so strongly in the first 2 episodes then do that? I would've rather see him die a decent death then the pathetic one they gave him in Amid the Ruins. A bullet to the cheek and then his stuck in a fence? Wow, great work.
You really can't win though. Around Every Corner is considered the longest episode which rarely anyone finishes it in under 2 hours. And people bitched about that episode because it was "just a filler, too long and boring". It was a great episode and the whole layout of crawford was very well put together. Episode 5 No Time Left was the worst of S1 to me. Not because of what happened (that was good) but in seemed so rushed and was short. You have the build up for 4 episodes then Vernons group takes off, Kenny/Ben "die." Christa/Omid you never see again if you're Lee. That was the beginning of the shorter episodes, but people always bitch about one thing or the other which you have to ask yourself:
What's better
I paid $5 for Life is Strange and that was twice as long as any Season 2 episode. Telltale are going to have to up their game for the competition.
I agree, there was just so many missed opportunities in S2. They missed out on the "promise to uncle pete storyline.", well written characters like Sarah and Nick were pretty much thrown away. When you do things like that, it doesn't matter how long the episode is.
That is true, more game companies are coming out with Episodic games. Capcom is releasing Revelations 2 that way.
A New Day is also one of my favorites, it's in my top 5 since I thought it was a great start to the series, there were some nice comic tie ins, and there was a lot of hubs and exploration.
yeah, the only way to keep the promise to Pete is to advise Walter that he's a good guy. The writers are too concerned with our choices having sense of instant gratification...our choices should reverberate throughout the series and not just by slightly changing minor dialogue options that aren't canon to the story
What i mean by this, is you have a character like Pete everyone liked. Then he asks you to watch over Nick. That could of been the whole storyline, the whole Kenny Jane stuff never interested me 1 bit. Sarah was another interesting character, they could of made her into a big star, gave her this big epic storyline, but then again it falls flat, because of pointless rehashing of the same storyline.
Good point lol I can't argue with that. One of the reasons I loved Life is strange was because of the length.
Nah i disagree. Its like someone here said, there would just be lack of character development, story, hubs etc if they cram 90 mins for each episode but fair enough on your opinion
tho the episodes are being released WEEKLY lol so theres no point even, its like what can they finish adding in after a mere week, a slightly better wall texture?
also i am hyped for that game tho, fav resi character ever, Barry Burton is returning and yayyyy X3 Barry is so awesome, the way i played resident evil as a kid was -Save barry, Kill rebecca-
The only reason S2's episodes are short is due to the lack of hubs and puzzles (but who cares about the puzzles anyways, am I right?)
Go through the longest episodes of S1 doing only the mission-critical stuff and you cut the episodes down to 90 minutes or so
Hell, take Life is Strange and do all the mission-critical stuff and that's also around 90 minutes, if not less
The problem's not in the length, the problem is the cutting down of hubs and interactivity. S2's episodes are basically bare-bones in comparison to S1; you blast through the main story of the episode, but the the interactivity, sub-plots and side-stories are pretty much nil. It's purely concentrated main story. They're limiting themselves to telling the story purely up-front. S1's story-telling came from all fronts, including that of it's hubs and interactive segments, as well as to a degree in the various puzzles of the game. S2, however, has very little of that. There are segments in S2 where it's brought back to some degree, and funnily enough, those moments tend to be, surprise surprise, some of S2's best moments.
This is also why GoT and Tales' first episodes were around the 2 hour mark, because they brought back those missing elements of interactivity again.
They're not limiting themselves on the time of the episodes, they're limiting themselves on the interactivity, narrative, and methods of story-telling of the episodes (the very things that helped make S1 work as well as it did)
I've done a few rush throughs of the game and the only episode i can finish shorter than 90 mins is Episode 5. The rest of the episodes took at least 2 hours or more to complete and that was rushing through as i said so even skipping hubs etc, it really doesn't cut it down to 90 mins. Trust me i've tried. It just felt like they put more effort into Season 1 sadly
Spot on dude. People will say it's boring and more of an introduction, but when you play these types of games, you need intros to build relationships with characters. I think had S2 had the amount of effort put into it like S1 had, then it would've been much more less criticized.
my favorite is Claire Redfield. Dat Ass is burned into my mind. ^_^
Jill's more my style