Do you think they butchered the child NPC aspect?
In S1 we had Clementine who we knew and felt attached to. She was what a real girl would be in the ZA. We knew about her the more we took care of her and she felt like a real person. I think she broke the barrier of generic children in games. Before the only purpose to have a child in game was to protect them because they were... you know... children. However I think what Clementine has AJ does not. I along with several others see AJ as nothing more than a plot device. I have no care or connection with him. I know they tried to replicate the parenting thing like in S1 but it failed because unlike in S1 I saw something far more than just a kid in Clementine and I wanted to protect her unlike AJ where I have to protect him because he's just a baby there is no desire or will like there was with Clementine. AJ goes back to that same generic standard of child NPCs
Comments
Maybe Season 2's writers could've had Clem spend more time with Rebecca around EP3/EP4. They could've built a stronger friendship and Rebecca would eventually tell Clem to look after AJ if anything goes wrong. Then there would be more meaning and purpose into taking care of AJ.
Personally, yes they did. And it's wasn't just AJ that failed, it was also Clementine and Sarah, but in different ways.
AJ behaved nothing like a new born as far as I know, he had inexplicable endurance to the cold, he's easily comforted after a few seconds of crying, and he's rarely seen using baby formula on-screen apart from a bottle of baby milk that shows up out of nowhere. Though to be fair, being a new born doesn't really amount to much in terms of personality other than how everyone appears to love the baby, when they spent the most of the season dressing down Nick, Sarah, and Kenny for being liabilities.
Clementine is basically a shadow of her former self and lacks much of a personality outside hardened and competent survivor more suited to an adult than an eleven year old, especially when she very depended on by the majority of adults mainly due to being the player character and had to be given something to do for interactivity's sake. She barely changes from Episode 1 to 5, lacks a story arc of her own, and basically serves as a witness to other character's development.
And Sarah was basically used to serve as a foil to Clementine and nothing more, even though she had potential to be a diverse character much like how Clementine was in Season 1, but as her own character instead of another Clementine. In the end she was the Clementine who was not taught how to defend herself and was ham-fistedly presented in her final scenes. Nothing comes out of her character and how she interacts with Clementine and the group, mainly due to how everyone quickly forgets about her as much as they did with Nick and Carlos, her own dad who is both the leader and the doctor of the group. Omit her from the story and barely anything drastic would have changed the story.
The only child character who is well presented is Becca, of all people, mainly due to how she realistically she behaves as one would in a zombie apocalypse: a tough and pragmatic front hiding an anxious and indecisive mind, and is stuck between the mind-set of a pragmatic leader and a more sensitive older sibling. She's loathed due to her personality, but ironically she's has more of a personality than S2 Clementine does, and she only had ten-twenty minutes of screen-time, while Clementine had a whole season to herself as the protagonist.
I'm pretty sure TT wanted people to be split on AJ. They probably figured some players would be like "he's a baby, I have to protect him", while others would find him an annoying burden. It's not very different from the Sarah situation.
We cared about Clementine in season 1 because she was sweet, helpful and smart for her age. AJ is a newborn who can't even think for himself, so it's understandable that people don't care for him. But some players just want to protect him because, well, he's a baby, and it's natural to feel that way. There's also the factor of wanting to raise him well for Rebecca's sake.
But Sarah and Clem had character. The reason I'm annoyed with AJ is because of the "he's a baby we have to protect him" thing as you mentioned. Its a common thing with all child NPCs in every other Video Game Telltale have proved in S1 that they're beyond that now with AJ they're going against what made Clementine so great. I understand he's a newborn but he's just been a plot device to ruin everything all the more reason he should have died in Amid The Ruins it would be realistic, dark and show how fucked up the world is
I know, I'm saying some people just naturally have an instinct to protect babies and children. Personalties and usefulness don't matter to them. Ohers see him as a symbol of hope for the future. Personally, I feel like we've seen enough dark shit, and AJ actually living was a welcome sight. But that's just me.
Sadly I don't think AJ will last long, since I remember reading that Telltale is exploring the idea of Clementine either abandoning or sacrificing the baby, I forget which.
Doesn't make the idea any less disturbing though.
This is partially why I don't want any returning characters in season 3. Leaves things open while giving all the season 2 endings closure at the same time.
S2 sucks
S2 is basically a pornstar...
You make it sound like that's a bad thing
When I read the plot to S1, I actually thought that it was kinda cliché and played out...it initially turned me off a wee bit, but since I love TWD, I decided to try it anyway. I think people underestimate how quickly children would adapt to the changing moral standards of the ZA. The kids(as well as adults) that don't adapt die...you're either the butcher or the cattle.
I don't think they butchered it at all...I think people just have unrealistic expectations for how children should behave in a 'dog eat dog' world....people want children to behave like helpless pups...but in the ZA there are no children and you realize that childhood is really just a fantasy that was brought on by a switch to a sedentary life and the eventual industrial revolution....
You know I feel the same. I wanted to protect clem the moment she was introduced.not because she was a child but because we had a connection. However, with aj I felt a sense of protection because he is a baby but I never had that same connection with him. I hope they don't have us play as him later in any season. If clem or Kenny isn't a playable character I'm not playing, if clem isn't in the game at all in not playing. I don't want to play a game that has these characters I have grown to love and they not even be in the game. Saying this directly to telltale:"If you want us to play this game, KEEP CLEM IN IT!!!!!!!" Im worried they will do something completely stupid and ruin it for everyone.
I agree. If they had expanded on Clem and AJ's relationship, I might care more. :l