So... I'm finally getting around to playing The Walking Dead: A New Frontier...
I've only played through the first two episodes but, so far, it's an interesting direction for the series to take. After years of playing the first two seasons and then playing TWD: Michonne, I was fully ready to see what happened with Clem from the end of Season 2 and see what she would go through in this third season... and I guess, I am actually seeing that... but it just doesn't feel like I'm seeing it, if you know what I mean. I don't completely understand why they decided to go with a new lead character and start a new story arc and have you interact with Clem, in that way. I would have much preferred it be the other way around (Clem as the lead and you meet up with Javi and his family). Granted, I'm VERY grateful that she's even in the game because I'll be honest... if they were to make a TWD game without her in it, then I don't even know if I'd play it. Still, though, it makes me wonder why they put her on the "back burner". They have to know that most people who play TWD games are playing it mostly for, if not ONLY for Clem. She's a HUGE reason why the games have been so successful. It was so refreshing to see little girl as a main protagonist and one that could take care of herself (especially after the help she received from Lee and the others).
That said, it is nice to see her growing up. That's also refreshing. It gives players a sense of progression and that's something that really isn't all that possible in the TV show, at least not in the same sense. It's a feeling of pride to see all this little girl has gone through and to see her still surviving and watching her become so tough but also still keeping her soft side (I originally thought she was a little cold based off of Episode 1 of ANF but now I see that she's being written well actually). Here's hoping that season 4 isn't actually the last season and that Clem is the lead character once again. That was a STRONG point for season 2, especially with the build up from season 1.... and that I think is ANF's biggest problem.... it broke the flow that TellTale had going from the first 2 seasons. With all the feedback that they've received from these forums and all other social media, I'm sure they'll hit their stride again with season 4!
Oh and PLEASE don't let Season 4 be the last season!!!! THANK YOU! I would miss Clem DEARLY!
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I wouldn't want it to happen because like Harvey Dent says in The Dark Knight:
And there are a lot of examples of franchises that have been kept alive to just end up becoming terrible and/or milked over and over like:
Exactly.
Telltale knows people play their Walking Dead for Clem, its why shes in the game. You'll see as you play, but by the end of the season you can clearly see Clem did not have to be in this game at all. She is only there to boost sales, no one bought ANF for any other reason other than it was suppose to be Season 3 "staring" Clem, but Clem is not a character at all in this season. She is just there for money.
Telltale was trying to make ANF newcomer friendly that's why we didn't play as Clem. I agree though, season 3 would have been better if it was the other way around where you play as Clem who meets up with Javier and his family. I would say that ANF is the weakest season so far but it isn't all bad there was definitely good moments in it. At the very least it was a good learning season for Telltale. They tried a lot of new things that didn't exactly work out and hopefully have learned from them.You'll be happy to hear that Telltale has listened to fan feedback and have made the decision to have Clementine return as the lead for the next and final season! So far what I have liked most of the things I have heard about it. One of the writers from season 1 is returning as an advisory writer for this season. Judging by the few tweets and interviews out there it sounds like Telltale is planning on bringing back many of the elements that made the first two seasons so good.
Here is the announcement video for the final season. There is spoilers for season 3 so don't watch until you have finished playing it.
Vaild point BUT with good writing this series has the potential to always be a shining star. The games in the series, so far, have all been released pretty sparingly. That's where a series like this would be able to potentially overcome the "milking over" effect that so many other franchises have succumbed to. Great writing will always keep a game like this fresh.
Yeah... it's just so odd that they broke up the flow the way they did with ANF. I get that game developers want to try new things but, in this case, it wasn't really justified. New comers could have just gone back and played the other games to get acquainted with Clem and her story.
Exactly. It was a major mistake and it wasn't even good marketing. It would have been better marketing if they had made it a proper continuation from the last season making players buy the other seasons to understand what is going on.
I think that's one of the problems with the game. Instead of connecting dots and letting some of those awesome decisions parallel with the next game (which they did really well with choices on this one), they just basically killed off the story and went with their own.
Those little shorts could've been huge if you find out that each decision you made greatly effected stuff like how Clem was involved with New Frontier, how the kid got sick and what his problem was, all these little things that would literally be a half a sound bite in a conversation and instead we got a three second, "it's over" story and that was that.
Exactly. It's like they wanted to do away with the amazing build-up they had going from Seasons 1 and 2. It's almost as if Clem was an after thought.