Season 2 choices that actually mattered?
Now after playing GOT I was amazed with the amount of different choices you have through the series and how much of a different impact they have. That for me is how these games should be after all, like it says right at the start before you play these games it says something like "This game is tailored by the choices and decisions you make, it effects the story" etc.
Well can anyone please tell me if there are any relevant choices in TWDS2 that actually mattered or made any kind of fundamental change? Because apart from right at the end of episode 5 I can't think of any. If you save Nick and Alvin in episode 2 they are barely featured and just die anyway, especially Nick who makes it to episode 4 and doesn't even have a line in that episode!
Truly shocking for the standards you'd expect and a huge disappointment.
Comments
You're right. The only two other choices that might matter is if you saved Christa or not, and if you gave the dying man any water. We might see them again in the future. Other than that, no other choice mattered. No matter if you taught Sarah how to shoot, she still dies an idiot. If you saved Nick and even promised Pete to take care of him, he dies as an afterthought. Or even if you wait a couple of days, Rebecca still manages to die the same exact way as if you left a day later, proving that she was expendable. This is my favorite one, if you chose to actually shoot the walkers, Luke still dies.
And that's all off the top of my head. If you want to know more choices that had an impact, you can obviously visit The Walking Dead wiki and check the choices and their impacts for each episode, instead of posting and shitting on Season 2 like all of your other posts on the forums.
None of those really mattered though, the Nick one matters, telling Kenny to shoot matters and saving sarah matters briefly. The only one that really alters the game is what ending you pick.
You can argue that the game is still good however choices don't really do anything in the walking dead. Game if thrones was a slight step in the right direction but still the story didn't really change at all.
Telltale really should work on choices mattering more, its a major weakness in all their games
Trouble is, making our choices matter more than they should means more time, a larger project to work on, and likely a bigger budget for a small team as Telltale to handle.
Branching paths that usually uses the 'paths with similar/same events but with different determinant characters' is less cost effective and takes less time than 'literally different story events that greatly influences character behavior and actions depending on who lived and who died'.
Still, there were moments where choices were completely irrelevant and made no impact to the story whatsover. For instance, the decision to head over to the town immediately or rest in Amid the Ruins, was pointless considering that events in the future still played out in the exact same timeline, regardless of whether you stayed to rest or left immediately. Even if the dialogue were slightly referenced by either Kenny or Luke, their behavior towards Clementine remained the same.
If they can't meet our expectations of choices then they might as well just release an animated series and scrap the game.
Why thank you MetallicaRules you have listed just about every single example for me of poor and irrelevant choices.
The story is still tailored somewhat, but more in character interaction. Don't look so far into it, there's a beginning and an end point, but how we journey through that, how we interpret relationships, motivations etc is completely up to the player. Heck, have you seen all the Jane Vs Kenny threads? Why would people care so much if their choices didn't matter? Everyone would be on the same page.
Even if saying something in the game doesn't affect ANYTHING in the long run, in that moment, interacting with that character, it matters. It may amount to nothing but it's about the story you create for yourself and how you remember the 'journey'.
I know that's the party line, but they should really be working on choices mattering. Having moral debate is good but with no consequences there isn't really much stake in decisions
Well I think we all knew what to expect when the writers of season 2 ignored our ending from season 1, because all of us met up with Omid and Christa and were very trusting of strangers despite what we chose.
I think you need to be reminded that Clementine wasn't a playable character in S1.
You only have 1 ending in S1 (Clem in a log seeing Christa and Omid in the background) but if you're talking about Lee's fate (dead or dead as a walker) what would you expect it would change???
Except you can tell Clementine not to trust strangers and tell Omid and Christa to go some place else. And what a coincidence that Omid and Christa just so happened to end up at the same part of the countryside as Clem. They were probably like. "Shit, I thought we got away from that kid."
We'll have to wait and see if the ending choices in Season 2 really do matter. Hopefully they do, considering Telltale said S3 will be "considerably larger".
1.Befriending Sarah
How did this matter? Oh yes, the odd dialogue tree, but no other way.
2.Giving the dying man water
How did this matter? Oh yes, we could give another dying man water.
3.Taking Pete's watch
How did this matter? How did this have an impact considering Nick doesn't even ask why you have it.
4.Foing with Pete or Nick
How did this matter? Nick gives his monologue about his mother in an earlier scene? Pete dies regardless.
5.Killing the dog
How did this matter? This choice changed a dialogue tree. It had no lasting impact.
6.Telling Pete and Luke about the dog
How did this matter. No lasting impact, just a change in dialogue
7.Telling Pete and Luke about Christa
How did this matter? Dialogue, no lasting impact.
8.Seeking Alvin's help
How did this matter? Oh yes a scene where you can rat him out to the group which doesn't do much, No lasting impact.
9.Accepting Nick's apology
No lasting impact on this one either, except he's a bit nicer to you.
10.Drinking with Nick
Why did this matter? No lasting impact on this one either.
11.Trying to lock the door or opening it
How did this matter? How did this have impact on the story? Apart from dialogue.
12.Defending Nick or yelling at him after he shoots Matthew
Again. Where was the impact on this as everything happens exactly the same way regardless.
13.Who you sit with at dinner
Again, what impact did this have? No impact whatsoever, especially considering it was clear the writers intended us to sit with Luke and not Kenny.
14.Telling Walter what you think of Nick
What impact did this have? Oh yes, Nick died an episode earlier, except, it had no impact because Nick had nothing to do in episode 3 and 4. So no matter what you choose to say to Walter there isn't really an impact. An impact would be if Nick had something to do in episode 3.
15.The first thing you say to Bonnie
What impact did this have? Oh yes, Dialogue.
16.Going out to look for Kenny or giving up
What impact did this have? Oh yes, you could let Alvin die.
17.Protecting Alvin or sacrificing him
See above, but it's not really an impact because he dies either in this episode or the next. It only changes dialogue.
18.Getting slapped by Carver
What impact did this have? None whatsoever. Same dialogue if he hits you or not.
19.Getting Reggie in trouble in the pen.
What impact does this have? None. Just a change in dialogue.
20.Telling Bonnie about why happened to Reggie
What impact did this have? NOTHING. She still helps you and asks about Reggie regardless.
21.Whose plan to go with, Kenny's or Luke's
What impact did this have? NONE. Except Dialogue.
22.Trying to help Kenny or not when Carver beats him
Sarita gets hit, but no real impact other than that.
23.Staying to watch Carver die or not (this one especially)
No impact whatsoever except dialogue changes.
24.Cutting off Sarita's arm
Sarita dies earlier than later. Kenny still angry. No change. No impact outside of dialogue.
25.Telling Rebecca you'd stay and help her
No impact except in dialogue.
26.Saving Sarah in the trailer park (no matter how minor it is, it does change some stuff)
No impact whatsoever. She dies either here or at the end and the only thing that changes is dialogue. Saving her has no impact on the story.
27.How you talk to Kenny in the tent
What impact did this have? He still helps Rebecca, still forgives Clem, all that changes is dialogue.
28.Who you go with first
This has no impact except in the order of scenes.
29.Stealing from Arvo
What impact did this have? All this changes is dialogue.
30.Accepting Jane's nail file
What impact did this have? NOTHING except you could hand it back to her an episode earlier.
31.Staying or leaving after a few days
What impact did this have? NOTHING. This decision was irrelevant and didn't affect anything other than dialogue.
32.Shooting Rebecca or calling for help
This had no impact whatsoever. All that changes is dialogue.
33.Going to protect AJ
What impact does this have? Nothing. Luke gets shot in a different way, and the dialogue changes.
34.Drinking with Jane
What impact does this have? Dialogue changes.
35.Getting Kenny to come back to the fire
What impact does this have? Dialogue changes and a tiny scene where he beats Arvo.
36.Protecting or covering Luke
What impact does this have? NOTHING. He dies either way. Dialogue changes, Bonnie gets wet, but that's it. Oh you can have Bonnie die if you let Luke stay underwater, that's about it.
37.Which plan to go with and what to do with Arvo after Kenny gets the truck working
What impact does this have? Nothing except a change in dialogue.
38.Shooting Kenny or letting him kill Jane.
Basically, the only decisions that change the game outside of dialogue trees is the last decisions whether or not to shoot Kenny or let Jane die, leave Kenny, ext.
They really did let us down.
There's a lot of choices that have let me down in the past. But you know which choice has let me down the most? The choice of how you formatted this post
holy freakin' wall of text
Lee always says to Christa and Omid to find Clem before (or after) he passes through the sign so he doesn't consider them strangers and nor does Clem.
Well they didn't put as much effort in season two of the walking dead as they did season one because now they're focused on multiple games at once and don't have that amount of time for one series alone multiples.
nick and Sarah's deaths made all that time and effort to build a connection with them over 3-4 episodes pointless especially since nicks was off screen and you can save Sarah once, then she dies regardless.
Well, frankly, not really.
Save Sarah at that trailer or not? Doesn't matter much, she dies later in the same episode without much impact on the game.
Give dying man a bottle of water? Surprise, it doesn't matter at all!
Be a piece of shit towards Rebecca? Haha, nice try, she still likes you no matter what. (Even if you blackmailed her, eh.)
It mostly changes just a bit of dialogues.
You just listed all the consequences those choices had, so if there's a consequence for a choice then it mattered.
The only choice that mattered was if you chose to kill Kenny, or save Jane, or go alone. Chances are that those choices won't matter in season 3.
And look at all the changes in dialogue those choices made! No actual impact to the playthrough of the game. The only time a choice effected something other than dialogue is the last decision of Episode 5 when you shoot Kenny or let Jane die. Letting Nick die in episode 2 had no impact and neither did letting him live.
Letting Nick live had an impact though
The impact of the hatchet into his head
ba dum tssss
The choices mattered to me, seeing the mistakes of doing what one perceives as 'right' only to get someone killed in the process might not change the game an awful lot but no game has really done that and these choices can have a bigger effect on the player.
Episode 1
Save Pete or Nick - determines the beginning of Episode 2, also determines the how and where Pete dies, some changes in Nick's dialogue.
Give the dying man Water - If you don't give him water, you can give it to Pete(if you saved him) or Rebecca in Episode 2.
Convince Alvin to help you - Saves you time getting everything inside the Cabin, alters some discussions in the Episode and adds a line of dialogue for how Clementine remembers Alvin in Episode 4, also you get a Juice Box you can Sip.
Befriend Sarah - Befriending Sarah lengthens scenes with her and changes some dialogue with her and Carlos, you'll be able to teach her how to use a Gun, she will greet Clementine at the Trailer.
Episode 2
Save Alvin - He will appear in Episode 3 and lengthens some scenes, also changes Rebecca's dialogue, changes the way Alvin dies, also causes the death of Hank, if he dies Bonnie will tell Clementine about him and George in Episode 3.
Save Nick - He will appear in Episode 3 and briefly in Episode 4, lengthens some scenes and adds an optional conversation, changes in some dialogues, also changes his death and adds an extra scene in Episode 4, also blood appears on one of the Walkers if you saved him.
Episode 3
Try to save Kenny - Causes Clementine to have a cut on her cheek for the rest of the Season, also changes the beginning of the following scene briefly, if you do nothing, Sarita will get a cut on her cheek.
Chop off Sarita's hand - Chopping of her hand results in her dying earlier, also has changes in Kenny's dialogue and lengthens a scene, adds a scene if Sarita's hand was chopped off straight after, which leads to a determinant death as a Walker in Episode 4, also changes in whether the Crows move or not before entering the Tent in Episode 4.
Episode 4
Save Sarah - Sarah stays with the group for several scenes, changes her death in the Episode, adds an extra choice on the Observation Deck, adds an optional conversation.
Steal from Arvo - Changes in the dialogue with Arvo, option to give medicine to Rebecca either at the Mini-Hub or during Labor or save it to give it to Luke in Episode 5.
Who to help first - Choosing to go to Jane first adds an extra small scene with her and time passes with Bonnie and Mike and vice versa, starting with Jane adds a short conversation and going with Mike and Bonnie first adds a scene at the beginning, also changes in some of the dialogue at that point in time.
Episode 5
Try to save Luke/Save Bonnie - If Clementine tries to save Luke, she'll fall into the water to which Jane saves her, or Clementine lets Bonnie try to save Luke and both Clementine and Bonnie end up drenched or Clementine lets both Luke and Bonnie die, determines how Bonnie acts towards Clementine and additional scenes with her, changes who apologizes to Clementine after she gets shot, changes the urgency of the scene. If Clementine tried to save Luke, she will have an optional conversation with Bonnie.
Convince Kenny/Jane to join the group - Determines how Kenny treats Arvo when he screams, changes some lines of the conversation.
Shoot Kenny/Save Jane - Determines whether Kenny or Jane dies or both die, determines the possible Endings Clementine has, determines the scenes after the battle. Changes in dialogue after the choice is mad depending on who is alive.
Ending Decisions - Determines whether Clementine is with anyone else but AJ, if you chose Jane's Ending, you get to choose if Randy, Patricia and Gill stay with you, if you chose Kenny's Ending, you choose whether you and AJ go to Wellington or stay with Kenny.
Allot of decisions had effects both small and fair but overall, there were no decisions that had plot-changing impacts in Season 2, nor do we truly know if the different Endings will into effect in Season 3.
no choice mattered
None of those choices altered anything other than a scene or dialogue. The only choices which had an impact on gameplay was at the end of Episode 5.
If you save Doug or Carley in season 1 then several scenes from 2 to 3 are completely different with different scenes. Both Doug and Carley contribute toward the outcome of Episode 2 in their own way.
If you save Nick or let Nick die in Episode 2 of season 2. Nothing changes. It carries on regardless without any difference. Now, that's a choice that had impact.
I think the choice of saving Pete or Nick actually does have an impact. It changes the intro, both aesthetically and tonally. The opening go down the same path of "stuck with character, character is depressed/sad, character wants to stay behind, can convince them to come with you or not, character 'sacrifices' themselves", but they do so in completely different circumstances.
It's about the same level of 'impact' Carley and Doug had. Carley and Doug were interchangeable characters, where they both did the same basic things within any given scene, with only small changes to how dialogue trees played out. Save them in episode 1, they ask you at the end why you saved them. In episode 2, try to give them food other than the apple, they'll reject it. They both see the St John's first (Carley holding them up, Doug's alarm getting tripped). They both accompany you to the dairy, they both go back to the motor inn, they both stay at the motor inn with Ben. They both come to rescue you in the final act, they both distract Andy, they both stop you if you keep beating Andy up, and they both 'fix' the recorder. They both butt in during the motel argument in episode 3 and Kenny blows them off, they both shoot bandits during the raid, they both defend the RV, they both argue with Lilly, they both die by Lilly. They're basically the same character with a few different shifts in how they handle the given situation; Carley uses a gun, Doug uses his wits (Carley defending the RV by shooting zombies, Doug fixing the solenoid, etc)
I'd argue that Pete and Nick, even in the short time that the choice had an effect, had more of an impact than Carley/Doug did. Pete and Nick net you entirely different openings, both with different tones (Nick's opening with zombies banging against the door as you try to hold them back, Pete with a much calmer, more somber opening), in two different locations, both have unique conversations with the player (yeah, Nick tells the one story later in the episode if you went with Pete, but there's other ones unique only to his opening), both 'sacrifice' themselves in different ways, both of them are later found by the group in different ways as well.
First of all, it does alter things, it doesn't matter what it alters, it doesn't change the fact that they alter some things, and in terms of what it alters, aside from scenes and dialogues, what else can it alter? We've already seen decisions that have even altered the surrounding environment or the character's appearance or fate of another character or what weapon the character is using, there's not really much else it can alter. How did the Endings alter any gameplay? They were each just scenes with optional dialogue.
More so extended scenes with Carley and less scenes with Doug. Not entirely, the outcome of Episode 2 is always the same regardless of your decisions, you always escape the farm, Larry always dies and the Van is always stolen from.
Uh no, saving Nick in Episode 2 does have changes regardless of how small they are, he's in the rest of Episode 2 if you save him, he appears in some scenes with some lines of dialogue in Episode 3 along with an optional conversation with him during the first night and he appears at the very beginning of Episode 4 if you save him and ends up turning into a Walker, which you gives you a goodbye scene with Nick before you can save Sarah and Luke at the Trailer. Not to mention that Rebecca and Reggie along with Luke have some reactions towards his death if you saved him.
Or you might just have too high expectations
This only impacted Sarah's attitude towards you, not anything major.
We don't see him for the rest of the series, and it's only if you save Pete and decide to give him water can it impact that choice. Pete's a dead man, anyway. So whether or not he gets a drink before dying really doesn't matter. So unless we see the dying man in Season 3 and that choice impacts majorly, then it doesn't matter.
Literally does nothing but make Nick happy for about 5 seconds before he's depressed again. Surprised he didn't ask why Clem had it in the first place.
Dog isn't seen beyond this choice, no other characters go off to find Sam off screen, doesn't impact the plot, it doesn't matter.
Doesn't impact anything but dialogue, Clementine still isn't trusted and shoved into the shed.
He only mentions Christa once or twice after being told, doesn't impact anything.
Only gets Clementine a juice box + not having to spend time finding bandages in the house. Also gets Rebecca mad at Alvin and more hostile to Clementine, but that's only it. It doesn't affect anything in the plot since Rebecca is hostile towards Clementine even if you play it safe with her.
Only dialogue alters + Nick's attitude towards you at the time of the choice.
Only gets mentioned once after the choice, doesn't affect anything but Clementine's dialogue with Jane in Ep. 5 incredibly minorly.
Carver gets into the house anyway.
This literally changes nothing but Nick's reaction to your choices. Nothing else in the long run.
Only affects Bonnie's dialogue in Ep. 5 if you pick "Check her for weapons." No other choice.
Doesn't change anything but a red mark on Clementine's model. Kenny still asks "what did he do to you?!" even if you weren't hit.
Reggie still dies for "screwing up" the next day, getting him in trouble won't impact his death, only dialogue.
Nothing happens if you tell her or not, she still chooses to leave the camp with the group.
This doesn't change anything since the group - despite your input - morphs the plans together.
This only changes minorly; Either Clementine is whacked by Troy, or Sarita is (if you don't choose an option), or neither you or Sarita are harmed.
Whether you do or not, you're forced to stick with Rebecca and eventually go off with her and Jane.
Kenny forgives her no matter what you say to him in the tent.
Nothing happens but the order the scenes play out.
This only gets you criticism from Luke and Kenny (once you see Arvo again), Arvo will still come with his buddies to try and rob you, and the shootout still plays out.
Barely even matters, considering it's only used for lighting a flint.
Nothing changes but Kenny and Luke's dialogue when arguing.
The only thing that changes is whether or not Luke gets shot going after the baby or thinking up a plan. Either way, Luke still gets shot and the baby is still brought to safety.
This only makes Kenny mad for like a second before forgetting about it. It literally impacts nothing as Kenny doesn't care about it later on.
This doesn't matter in the long run as Arvo flees with Mike and Bonnie and you make a decision on who you're going to save later on.
Did I just counter most of these? Yeah, I was bored and it's taken me 40 minutes to do so. I'm not trying to shit on the game or anything, it was overall an okay game, but most choices didn't impact majorly. And that doesn't set a good rep for a series (and company) so hellbent on making your choices really matter.
C'mon, Deltino. I'm still sensitive about Nick.
It's a choice for Lee to say "Find Omid and Christa." It isn't a decidable dialogue option.
Like I said only dialogue and a scene changed. Saving Doug or Carley gave you a completely different choice of interactions. With Carley you can tel every one about your past. With Doug you don't. Going with Pete or Nick still gives you the same scene of Nick's monologue, just at different times and locations.
And with Doug and Carley you at least got the sense your choice mattered because it was different based on what you chose. With the option of Nick living or dying you got the sense that the writers wanted him dead and didn't think someone would choose save him. Hence saving him has no impact save a brief line in Episode 4.
As I said: "Lee always says to Christa and Omid to find Clem."
Technically, if you stay silent when you cross the sign, Lee won't mention finding Clementine. Heck, he won't mention anything. He'll just start crawling down while Christa and Omid are all like "what the hell?"
I read that wrong, whoops.
But does he? Like Deltino said, it's actually a choice whether you stay silent or not and that doesn't inform them of finding her if you're silent.
Well then my bad. Anyways I don't belive that many people chose silence in that scene.
Nope, not only dialogue and a scene changed. Yeah that's really the only difference between them is that Carley gives you an extra choice that has no effect except in dialogue. But the entire starting scene for Episode 2 changes, it's very different with Nick's and Pete's beginnings.
Really? I didn't see how much more the Carley and Doug choice mattered compared to the Nick and Pete one, they both really only made changes to scenes and dialogues, Pete's scene being completely different from Nick's, Carley nor Doug changed an entire scene, not even in a similar duration/time period as Pete did. As for the sense, that's subjective, we evidently each have our own sense of what makes a choice feel like it matters. So with the option of Nick living or drying you get the sense the Writer's wanted him dead? But you get the option of Carley or Doug living or dying also, same with Ben in Episode 4, heck, there's a whole roster of characters with a determinant status. Saving him does have an impact, even if it's small, he still appears in allot of scenes and has some dialogue in those scenes as well as an optional conversation in Episode 3 plus a short goodbye scene in Episode 4, plus choices also impact the player, not only the game. If it were the case of only a brief line in Episode 4, that's still an impact of making the decision, you just contradicted yourself in that sense.