I "finished" Hades recently and it was an exhilarating and surprising feat. Finally escaped the underworld...
But not really! It's a roguelike, so of course it's not over yet! It's actually the first of 10 escapes from the underworld you have to do before seeing the "true ending" and the credits roll... time will tell if I have the conviction and luck to do it 9 more times...
Fun fact: As I was nearing escape attempt ~35, I told myself I would turn on "God Mode" after 50 failed escape attempts -- it's a feature in the options that gives you 20% damage reduction, and increases by 2% every time you die, up to a cap of 80%.
Previously, I had only gotten to the final boss ONCE, and barely made a dent in him before dying. But in this 50th attempt, my strategies worked, and I made it through! Kinda poetic in a way.
The thing that kept stopping me was Theseus. He's just the worst...
I hope to god you guys don't find this too cringe, but I trust y'all anyway.
In honor of that win, and wanting to change my profile picture since the holiday season's over... here's a Zagreus chicken. Woo.
In hindsight it probably would have been easier to turn the man into a chicken, instead of a chicken into a man, but whatever! It's too late now!
Last week, I hit my two year milestone at Amazon. When I originally accepted the job, it came with 16 shares of Amazon stock that would vest (become available) after I hit certain tenure milestones. So now, I just got my first 3 shares (1.7 technically since 1.3 had to be sold to cover the 40% tax rate, fucking government) of stock, which as of writing, is about $5.1K.
The downside, of course NOW the stock market has to correct itself and everything has been trending down due to inflation, international threats, COVID, and the Fed planning on raising interest rates. Still, whatever I do get out of it when I choose to sell will be free money in my pocket, but when I'm trying to save up for a condo, or looking to get a new set of golf clubs, the last thing I want to see is that number going down and down.
That being said, if any of you are new investors or have extra money lying around, now would be a good time to invest. Back when the pandemic first started and the stock market crashed, I bought $2.1K worth of shares into JP Morgan when the price was around $90 or so. Today, that total investment is up to $3.2K. Seek out a reliable and trustworthy financial adviser, and they can help.
So a week or two ago I said I would like to vent my frustrations with the Clementine Books, can't imagine there being too many people that would like to read it, but for me, I'd like to think that typing it all out, will be therapeutic for me and allow me to calm down, because it honestly is winding me up a great deal. I'll spoiler tag it so it doesn't take up the entire page, if anyone reads it, fair play, but I promise it'll be a long winded comment as I'm just that fed up with it.
So to start, I've always been a very vocal opponent of continuing Clementine's Story. The Walking Dead: The Final Season was to me, the perfect encapsulation of what a video game should be in terms of its Story. Everything I wanted in a game, I got from it, I treasure it, and it means such a great deal to me. How it ended, was perfect, seeing Clementine finally find a home of her own, with people she considers family, and with AJ, it was like heaven for them, and it was like heaven knowing that was where the Story ended for a character that means a great deal to me. I was not a fan of her losing her leg, that took me a while to come to terms with, but I think it made sense for the Ending they were going for: Clementine to stay at the Boarding School, and come to trust and rely on others to help her, I can get behind that. What was exciting for me was that once AJ put down her hat, and the screen goes black, anything I imagined to have happened next was valid, as it would apply to my own Clementine and not be a concrete thing that is set in stone on screen, I have some form of authorship over what I imagined happened next, and that was pretty soothing.
Clementine had her Happy Ending, and it seemed definitive, it felt right, it felt like a true finale, so seeing it be maintained and respected was what I wanted, and felt would be the logical course of action considering how The Walking Dead: The Final Season was pushed as the End of the Series, and The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series being a complete Series Collection from beginning to end. So then April 2020 comes around, with Negan Lives! and Kirkman drops his infamous "P.S. Clementine Lives" comment, and in the following months, he states how he wouldn't make a statement like that without it meaning something, fast forward a couple of months and Skybound X is announced, with Clementine's Return being pushed front and center. I was livid, I'll say it how it is, I was livid, I got epically owned, being so adamant and confident that Clementine's Story would be respected enough to be left alone, I was wrong, but, as much as I was not very happy with the announcement, I wanted to put aside those feelings, and try to give the Comic a fair shot, and honestly, I tried, I don't think I succeeded, but as you probably expected, I wasn't pleased with what I read, but what I read wasn't what I was expecting. I will say that the contents are emotional, given how AJ and Clementine say goodbye, but apart from that? It is actually infuriating. I'll not talk about the art, I am not fussed about the art, I cared about the Story first and foremost, and the Story basically being Clementine leaves, gets stopped by AJ, says he can't come with, says he's safer at Ericson's and that she isn't happy at Ericson's. Now, I do believe it is possible for characters to be like that, humans are like that, we push for something, we get it, and then we become discontent and look for something else to fill that hole. I get that, but why did that have to be the case with Clementine? She has had several homes, and out of all, it was Ericson's that she, by far, put so much of a fight into protecting, by the end of The Walking Dead: The Final Season, she seemed so happy, she could finally be at peace.
It angers me that the Books, and Skybound X, manage to take 7 years worth of following a Story, Four Seasons worth of Story, with thousands of choices, and just ignore it completely to capitalise off Clementine's popularity. I always felt that what happened with Skybound X was what had to happen in order for the Books to be a thing. Clementine had to go, she couldn't stay at the School, as it'd conflict with player choices, but as stated in Skybound X, because of the branching narrative, they had to make some choices, which was essentially choosing to ignore a core aspect of the games, which was player choice.
One thing I really dislike is when a character makes a decision that is strikingly unusual, it's deemed "out of character", I feel people have the capacity to change according to their surroundings, and when taking into account the passage of time, it makes that all the more likely to be the case, but when it comes to Clementine, what's awesome about the games is we shape Clementine's personality, there's a personality that exists there but we also shape the type of person she is. For me, I always viewed my Clementine as being at peace at Ericson's, she loved it, I cared about the group, I wanted my Clementine to be able to live out her days at Ericson's, because that was when she was at her most happiest. For Skybound X and the Books to be canon, it essentially goes against how I shaped Clementine, it goes against the character I defined with my playstyle and choices.
Onto the plot of the Books, Lee is obviously going to be a big focus, he was a major part of her life, so it makes sense, Clementine is traumatized over what happened with Lee, but how I interpreted The Final Season's Ending, she seemed to finally put that behind her, instead of dwelling on her past, she could look to her future. Now, I get trauma isn't something that just "goes away", I don't expect Clementine to just get over what happened, but I felt that the entire Journey, she always held herself at fault, trying to give Lee's death some meaning, Lee's goal was to keep her safe, and have her live on and be happy, she got that, so I thought that in being at Ericson's, she could fulfill what Lee wanted and have his passing mean something, and look, it still does, but not as much. She was safe at Ericson's, she was happy, but now she's out venturing in the wild, with the Ski Lodge in the Appalachian Mountains being her goal for now, but she is at far more risk of dying, especially with a peg leg.
When the Books were announced, I was very unhappy, but I thought to myself, I care about Clementine that much, I'll read the Books, I love the character of Clementine, but I'm in the process of replaying the Series, which I am having a blast with so far, and it kills me knowing that the Ending it all leads up to, isn't the true Ending it should have been. I pre-ordered the Book back in July, but I think, if I care as much about Clementine as much as I know and say I do, then I'll cancel the preorder, and not support the Book in any way, shape or form. I preordered to give it a chance, to judge the Book by itself instead of being a continuation, but I can't, so I won't. I won't support something I clearly don't support, and I think I was pretty silly in going the route of paying to support a Book that I was completely against from day one.
As vocally as I have been about much I really dislike what's happening, and the Story of the Trilogy, I don't hold the author, Tillie Walden, at fault. I am sure she is a remarkably talented writer, and I would like to read one of her other Books. As I said earlier that for the Books to be a thing, what happened had to happen, no matter who the author is. The problem is the idea of continuing it in the first place, because the way The Walking Dead: The Final Season ended, you couldn't really continue it without absolutely wrecking the definitive Ending it gave.
My love for The Walking Dead is still there, and as I continue to play through the Series again, I'll see that more and more, I love it that much, that I don't wish to read the Books, because it just goes against the Series. Anyways, if anyone read this, fair play, thanks for reading, I hope this is one of the only times I chat about the Books, if I ever do chat about it again, I hope it is a long way down the road from now, because as it's been made clear, it makes me unhappy, and I would be a hypocrite to encourage other members of the Forums to move on from media they don't like to just dwell on media I don't like.
I am in pretty much agreement with everything you have said here and have vocalized my thoughts that I just do not have the time and energy to write and flesh out. I’ve kept my focus on these books in spite of my disdain for them because, even though I have no expectations, it involves Clem. She’s still my favorite character, I’m invested so much time into her story that I feel as if I have to, begrudgingly, know what happens, even if it screams as being the complete opposite of what my Clem would have done.
Clementine had to go, she couldn't stay at the School, as it'd conflict with player choices, but as stated in Skybound X, because of the branching narrative, they had to make some choices, which was essentially choosing to ignore a core aspect of the games, which was player choice.
This can honestly be the best thing that they have said. Usually, I’m not a fan of when fans just declare what they view as canon or non-canon. I see this a lot in regards to The Legend of Korra, that people who don’t like it just call it not canon to the Avatar series. No, it is, you just didn’t like it, but something being canon is not dependent on that. The same is true here, but only up to an extent. The player choice factor offers an easy out, because if they do go down a route that has them alluding or referencing certain decisions that you or I didn’t make, then we’re clear. So far, they’ve been careful and have worked around that by steering clear of it, but you can’t keep that up with how big these books are going to be.
So a week or two ago I said I would like to vent my frustrations with the Clementine Books, can't imagine there being too many people that w… moreould like to read it, but for me, I'd like to think that typing it all out, will be therapeutic for me and allow me to calm down, because it honestly is winding me up a great deal. I'll spoiler tag it so it doesn't take up the entire page, if anyone reads it, fair play, but I promise it'll be a long winded comment as I'm just that fed up with it.
(Spoiler)
I’ve kept my focus on these books in spite of my disdain for them because, even though I have no expectations, it involves Clem.
That was me at the start, as much as I wanted to just drop it, I wanted to try and look at it as a standalone piece of material that isn't tied to the games, but I can't do that, because it's tied, it's building off the games somehow when it's ignoring them at the same time.
This can honestly be the best thing that they have said. Usually, I’m not a fan of when fans just declare what they view as canon or non-canon. I see this a lot in regards to The Legend of Korra, that people who don’t like it just call it not canon to the Avatar series. No, it is, you just didn’t like it, but something being canon is not dependent on that.
I just feel it shouldn't have had to be said at all if the Books weren't a thing. And I had the very same attitude about canon and non-canon, but I'll say now, purely to maintain my love for the Series, that I'll consider the Books to not be canon. Knowing that my Journey with Clementine didn't end how it was meant to with The Final Season, instead she's canonically going to walk away from the home she had with AJ, that bothers me, it does ruin the Series for me, so for me, I have to cut out the Books. They say ignorance is bliss, in this case, I'd just like to be able to enjoy the Series and not have to worry about the Books throwing away what the entire Series built up to and ended on.
The player choice factor offers an easy out, because if they do go down a route that has them alluding or referencing certain decisions that you or I didn’t make, then we’re clear. So far, they’ve been careful and have worked around that by steering clear of it, but you can’t keep that up with how big these books are going to be.
That is a solid point, absolutely brilliant to be honest, let's say the Clementine Books portray Clementine as someone who stayed with Jane, or the Alone Ending, I suppose it could be considered canon to those Stories and not mine? But then I think about players with those Endings who don't approve of it. I think they'd have been much better off saying it isn't canon, but being a spin-off that caters to the audience that wanted another game with Clementine, off adventuring, without tampering with the Ending, I feel it was a very poor decision that wasn't thought through too well, like they knew they had to GTFO from the Boarding School, but I think maybe the weight of that decision was underestimated? Throwing away that Ending, with all its significance and the poetic nature of it, I always felt it would lead to the reaction that these Books have received.
What bothers me though is just how quiet Skybound have been, back when The Final Season was in their hands and they were handling the last two Episodes, they were always communicating, may not have always been giving substantial information, but they felt present, fast forward with these Books, there's been little communication, plenty of previews, so I take that as them wanting the previews to change some minds because they may feel words might not cut it, but look at Telltale with A New Frontier, they bit the bullet and spoke about their creative decisions head on, I don't think there's been too much of that here, when the target audience is the players of the Series, who are pretty universally against the Books, I think that's when you regroup, think about what's happening with it, and address the elephant in the room, and maybe reconsider the messaging going forward. It's meant to be a trilogy of Books, and Book One right before it's out of the gate has so much heavy lifting to do in order to give people a reason to give it, Book Two and Book Three a chance, and examining that Book One just ignores Four Seasons worth of Story, I think the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against it.
I am in pretty much agreement with everything you have said here and have vocalized my thoughts that I just do not have the time and energy … moreto write and flesh out. I’ve kept my focus on these books in spite of my disdain for them because, even though I have no expectations, it involves Clem. She’s still my favorite character, I’m invested so much time into her story that I feel as if I have to, begrudgingly, know what happens, even if it screams as being the complete opposite of what my Clem would have done.
Clementine had to go, she couldn't stay at the School, as it'd conflict with player choices, but as stated in Skybound X, because of the branching narrative, they had to make some choices, which was essentially choosing to ignore a core aspect of the games, which was player choice.
This can honestly be the best thing that they have said. Usually, I’m not a fan of when fans just declare what they view as canon or non-canon. I… [view original content]
Hot damn, that's a lot of episodes. The article mentions that the Devil is still the main villain and that he'll be popping in every now and again to mess with Cuphead and Mugman so it's possible that while it won't be super plot heavy, there will be an overarching storyline.
Though I wonder if they'll still go with the backstory of the brothers betting their souls away at a casino and having to go reap the souls of the people in debt to the Devil or suffer eternal damnation lol.
Holy cow
I guess The Cuphead Show isn't going to be the short-order, narratively-driven Netflix series I was expecting..
https://twitt… moreer.com/thecartooncrave/status/1486162375489241096
I hope it's not just a series of unconnected shorts, but I guess the game itself doesn't have much story to draw on?
I like the ending TWD telltale series. Not the stupid comics. These comics are garbage. I ignore them. Cause I don't care if ppl say they are Canon. Nope! Not in my mind or anything. They aren't canon to me. I don't like it
Day 11 of not knowing how to post GIFs and share images to the Forums, I could've sworn that Metallica and CrazedRabbit posted GIFs in response to me to rub it in, but I can't be certain. I long for the day that I can share some sweet GIFs and images to bless these Forums...one day.
When you go to leave a comment the tool bar on the top left above the comment box, the furthest to the right on that row you will see an image icon. Click it and post in a link to an image. It will work as long as the image ends with .png .jpg .gif
Day 11 of not knowing how to post GIFs and share images to the Forums, I could've sworn that Metallica and CrazedRabbit posted GIFs in respo… morense to me to rub it in, but I can't be certain. I long for the day that I can share some sweet GIFs and images to bless these Forums...one day.
When you go to leave a comment the tool bar on the top left above the comment box, the furthest to the right on that row you will see an image icon. Click it and post in a link to an image. It will work as long as the image ends with .png .jpg .gif
Aaaand the price for the most awkward trailer of all time goes to this lil beaut. Clementines absolute trainwreck of a return in stores June 22nd. Aren't y'all excited?!?!!
You know they have high hopes when they don’t even have comments enabled.
EDIT: Okay, so I finally got a chance to watch the trailer…what the fuck did I just watch? What theme is this going for exactly? The music and style matches NOTHING reminiscing TWD. It does feel like a coming of age thing, which is redundant considering that you can say the entire series was literally that for Clementine, coming into her own and finding what’s most important to her and the lengths she’s willing to go to defend it, all of which is best exemplified in TFS. It’s like they are actively trying to piss off the fandom as much as possible. Also, way to rub salt into the wounds of anyone who romanced Louis or Violet by having “And new love” in the trailer. I do remember reading something about how the author wanted to use this trilogy to explore what it was like to be queer in a zombie apocalypse. Nice going Tillie, all you had to do was break up an actual queer romance in order for you to explore what we had already gotten in the last game of the series, you fucktard. Seriously, is no one actually offended by that, because if I was a Violetine shipper, I’d be fucking pissed. Hell I’m a Clouis one and I’m livid, but this, you’re actively separating a well done gay romance, just to “explore” another one? Congrats Tillie, you included representation…by eliminating representation, you fucking moron. Doesn’t that just cancel each other out?
Aaaand the price for the most awkward trailer of all time goes to this lil beaut. Clementines absolute trainwreck of a return in stores June 22nd. Aren't y'all excited?!?!!
Eugh, that coming-of-age teen vibe the trailer gives off is so off-putting.
I'm not saying a teen-demographic zombie story can't be told -- I owned the first book of a tween zombie series called "The Zombie Chasers" in my years, and it was pretty enjoyable -- this just feels like such a heel-turn from what this could be, from what we know Clementine and TWD as... hrmph.
Aaaand the price for the most awkward trailer of all time goes to this lil beaut. Clementines absolute trainwreck of a return in stores June 22nd. Aren't y'all excited?!?!!
Aaaand the price for the most awkward trailer of all time goes to this lil beaut. Clementines absolute trainwreck of a return in stores June 22nd. Aren't y'all excited?!?!!
Aaaand the price for the most awkward trailer of all time goes to this lil beaut. Clementines absolute trainwreck of a return in stores June 22nd. Aren't y'all excited?!?!!
Try not to comment on the Clem comic trailer after saying ignore the comics challenge [!!!WARNING!!! IMPOSSIBLE BECAUSE THAT TRAILER WAS FUNNY AS HELL]
That trailer just makes the novel worse. Also that new girlfriend is possibly a self insert from the writer because they look kinda similar, they wear the same glasses and they’re both in Vermont and the writer in the year of 2010 would’ve been a teen. I’ve said my case on r/TheWalkingDeadGame with my opinion on the novel it’s awful and we’re getting it in the same year TWDG Season 1 turns 10.
Nice going Tillie, all you had to do was break up an actual queer romance in order for you to explore what we had already gotten in the last game of the series, you fucktard. Seriously, is no one actually offended by that, because if I was a Violetine shipper, I’d be fucking pissed.
Yup also Violetine fan here. I am really fuckin pissed off. Like WTF!!!! Omfg! This is pathetic and sad. Like who TF thought this was a good idea?!?
You know they have high hopes when they don’t even have comments enabled.
EDIT: Okay, so I finally got a chance to watch the trailer…what… more the fuck did I just watch? What theme is this going for exactly? The music and style matches NOTHING reminiscing TWD. It does feel like a coming of age thing, which is redundant considering that you can say the entire series was literally that for Clementine, coming into her own and finding what’s most important to her and the lengths she’s willing to go to defend it, all of which is best exemplified in TFS. It’s like they are actively trying to piss off the fandom as much as possible. Also, way to rub salt into the wounds of anyone who romanced Louis or Violet by having “And new love” in the trailer. I do remember reading something about how the author wanted to use this trilogy to explore what it was like to be queer in a zombie apocalypse. Nice going Tillie, all you had to do was break up an actual qu… [view original content]
I ordered a book from Amazon but the box it came in looks like it was packaged by a deaf Matt Murdock and then thrown off a building.
@MetallicaRules I can't believe you've done this to me.
I don't know about some of you all, but let me tell you, it's a good feeling to not let stuff live rent-free in your heads. Do not let Clementine destroy you! I've gradually given up holding grudges; just got to ignore and move on. Being angry all the time is no fun. Serenity now, insanity later!
NOTE: Yeah, the clip doesn't make a lot of sense given what I just said but it's funny so who cares. And don't feel I'm trying to preach to you guys; just seeing so many people unhappy makes me unhappy, you know?
I don't know about some of you all, but let me tell you, it's a good feeling to not let stuff live rent-free in your heads. Do not let Cleme… morentine destroy you! I've gradually given up holding grudges; just got to ignore and move on. Being angry all the time is no fun. Serenity now, insanity later!
NOTE: Yeah, the clip doesn't make a lot of sense given what I just said but it's funny so who cares. And don't feel I'm trying to preach to you guys; just seeing so many people unhappy makes me unhappy, you know?
gonna awkwardly bring up wolf 2 theory/idea stuff but I was thinking about how Detective Brannigan is probably going to return based on what we know about Wolf 2 revisiting old ideas and the devs purposely avoiding talking about her but I sort of realized I feel having Brannigan in season 2 would probably work way better than if her plot were in season 1. I always felt that plot line was probably for the best being cut, as it would sort of get in the way. However, thinking about it, S2 Brannigan may have actually been figuring this all out in the background which could be a great opportunity for all our season 1 choices to come back in s2 as Brannigan may actually show how she pieced together a pattern based on our choices as an outsider looking in. I think the idea of her approaching Bigby months after these events rather than during works a lot better for a sequel and makes her appearance in s1 feel more important. Sort of like an "oh shit her again" but now she has more of a backing. Could even turn the Bigby running in the streets in ep 5 into an actual plot point of evidence she now has for something being off.
gonna awkwardly bring up wolf 2 theory/idea stuff but I was thinking about how Detective Brannigan is probably going to return based on what… more we know about Wolf 2 revisiting old ideas and the devs purposely avoiding talking about her but I sort of realized I feel having Brannigan in season 2 would probably work way better than if her plot were in season 1. I always felt that plot line was probably for the best being cut, as it would sort of get in the way. However, thinking about it, S2 Brannigan may have actually been figuring this all out in the background which could be a great opportunity for all our season 1 choices to come back in s2 as Brannigan may actually show how she pieced together a pattern based on our choices as an outsider looking in. I think the idea of her approaching Bigby months after these events rather than during works a lot better for a sequel and makes her appearance in s1 feel more important. Sort of like an "oh shit … [view original content]
gonna awkwardly bring up wolf 2 theory/idea stuff but I was thinking about how Detective Brannigan is probably going to return based on what… more we know about Wolf 2 revisiting old ideas and the devs purposely avoiding talking about her but I sort of realized I feel having Brannigan in season 2 would probably work way better than if her plot were in season 1. I always felt that plot line was probably for the best being cut, as it would sort of get in the way. However, thinking about it, S2 Brannigan may have actually been figuring this all out in the background which could be a great opportunity for all our season 1 choices to come back in s2 as Brannigan may actually show how she pieced together a pattern based on our choices as an outsider looking in. I think the idea of her approaching Bigby months after these events rather than during works a lot better for a sequel and makes her appearance in s1 feel more important. Sort of like an "oh shit … [view original content]
Watched the first 3 episodes of All of Us are Dead. So far, I am enjoying it and surprisingly, each episode appears to be more than one hour long and the first season contains 12 episodes. I don't think it reaches the same quality as Kingdom or Train to Busan because there are a few problems that I encountered but I can already say it comes third unless there are more issues that bother me in the later episodes.
Thus caps the end of one of the most illustrious careers in not just the NFL, but the entire sporting world. 22 seasons and was still one of the best in the game. I don’t like Brady for the same reason a lot of people don’t like the Yankees, it gets old seeing him succeed and win so many times, but there’s also a huge level of respect for him as a player and his accomplishments on the field. He has more Super Bowl wins than any team, and there’s no doubt he is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, quarterback of all time.
Comments
I "finished" Hades recently and it was an exhilarating and surprising feat. Finally escaped the underworld...
But not really! It's a roguelike, so of course it's not over yet! It's actually the first of 10 escapes from the underworld you have to do before seeing the "true ending" and the credits roll... time will tell if I have the conviction and luck to do it 9 more times...
Fun fact: As I was nearing escape attempt ~35, I told myself I would turn on "God Mode" after 50 failed escape attempts -- it's a feature in the options that gives you 20% damage reduction, and increases by 2% every time you die, up to a cap of 80%.
Previously, I had only gotten to the final boss ONCE, and barely made a dent in him before dying. But in this 50th attempt, my strategies worked, and I made it through! Kinda poetic in a way.
The thing that kept stopping me was Theseus. He's just the worst...
I hope to god you guys don't find this too cringe, but I trust y'all anyway.
In honor of that win, and wanting to change my profile picture since the holiday season's over... here's a Zagreus chicken. Woo.
In hindsight it probably would have been easier to turn the man into a chicken, instead of a chicken into a man, but whatever! It's too late now!
Last week, I hit my two year milestone at Amazon. When I originally accepted the job, it came with 16 shares of Amazon stock that would vest (become available) after I hit certain tenure milestones. So now, I just got my first 3 shares (1.7 technically since 1.3 had to be sold to cover the 40% tax rate, fucking government) of stock, which as of writing, is about $5.1K.
The downside, of course NOW the stock market has to correct itself and everything has been trending down due to inflation, international threats, COVID, and the Fed planning on raising interest rates. Still, whatever I do get out of it when I choose to sell will be free money in my pocket, but when I'm trying to save up for a condo, or looking to get a new set of golf clubs, the last thing I want to see is that number going down and down.
That being said, if any of you are new investors or have extra money lying around, now would be a good time to invest. Back when the pandemic first started and the stock market crashed, I bought $2.1K worth of shares into JP Morgan when the price was around $90 or so. Today, that total investment is up to $3.2K. Seek out a reliable and trustworthy financial adviser, and they can help.
24 days in and STILL NOW WOLF 2 UPDATE!? WHAT!? I'm about to fucking ACT UP!!!
So a week or two ago I said I would like to vent my frustrations with the Clementine Books, can't imagine there being too many people that would like to read it, but for me, I'd like to think that typing it all out, will be therapeutic for me and allow me to calm down, because it honestly is winding me up a great deal. I'll spoiler tag it so it doesn't take up the entire page, if anyone reads it, fair play, but I promise it'll be a long winded comment as I'm just that fed up with it.
So to start, I've always been a very vocal opponent of continuing Clementine's Story. The Walking Dead: The Final Season was to me, the perfect encapsulation of what a video game should be in terms of its Story. Everything I wanted in a game, I got from it, I treasure it, and it means such a great deal to me. How it ended, was perfect, seeing Clementine finally find a home of her own, with people she considers family, and with AJ, it was like heaven for them, and it was like heaven knowing that was where the Story ended for a character that means a great deal to me. I was not a fan of her losing her leg, that took me a while to come to terms with, but I think it made sense for the Ending they were going for: Clementine to stay at the Boarding School, and come to trust and rely on others to help her, I can get behind that. What was exciting for me was that once AJ put down her hat, and the screen goes black, anything I imagined to have happened next was valid, as it would apply to my own Clementine and not be a concrete thing that is set in stone on screen, I have some form of authorship over what I imagined happened next, and that was pretty soothing.
Clementine had her Happy Ending, and it seemed definitive, it felt right, it felt like a true finale, so seeing it be maintained and respected was what I wanted, and felt would be the logical course of action considering how The Walking Dead: The Final Season was pushed as the End of the Series, and The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series being a complete Series Collection from beginning to end. So then April 2020 comes around, with Negan Lives! and Kirkman drops his infamous "P.S. Clementine Lives" comment, and in the following months, he states how he wouldn't make a statement like that without it meaning something, fast forward a couple of months and Skybound X is announced, with Clementine's Return being pushed front and center. I was livid, I'll say it how it is, I was livid, I got epically owned, being so adamant and confident that Clementine's Story would be respected enough to be left alone, I was wrong, but, as much as I was not very happy with the announcement, I wanted to put aside those feelings, and try to give the Comic a fair shot, and honestly, I tried, I don't think I succeeded, but as you probably expected, I wasn't pleased with what I read, but what I read wasn't what I was expecting. I will say that the contents are emotional, given how AJ and Clementine say goodbye, but apart from that? It is actually infuriating. I'll not talk about the art, I am not fussed about the art, I cared about the Story first and foremost, and the Story basically being Clementine leaves, gets stopped by AJ, says he can't come with, says he's safer at Ericson's and that she isn't happy at Ericson's. Now, I do believe it is possible for characters to be like that, humans are like that, we push for something, we get it, and then we become discontent and look for something else to fill that hole. I get that, but why did that have to be the case with Clementine? She has had several homes, and out of all, it was Ericson's that she, by far, put so much of a fight into protecting, by the end of The Walking Dead: The Final Season, she seemed so happy, she could finally be at peace.
It angers me that the Books, and Skybound X, manage to take 7 years worth of following a Story, Four Seasons worth of Story, with thousands of choices, and just ignore it completely to capitalise off Clementine's popularity. I always felt that what happened with Skybound X was what had to happen in order for the Books to be a thing. Clementine had to go, she couldn't stay at the School, as it'd conflict with player choices, but as stated in Skybound X, because of the branching narrative, they had to make some choices, which was essentially choosing to ignore a core aspect of the games, which was player choice.
One thing I really dislike is when a character makes a decision that is strikingly unusual, it's deemed "out of character", I feel people have the capacity to change according to their surroundings, and when taking into account the passage of time, it makes that all the more likely to be the case, but when it comes to Clementine, what's awesome about the games is we shape Clementine's personality, there's a personality that exists there but we also shape the type of person she is. For me, I always viewed my Clementine as being at peace at Ericson's, she loved it, I cared about the group, I wanted my Clementine to be able to live out her days at Ericson's, because that was when she was at her most happiest. For Skybound X and the Books to be canon, it essentially goes against how I shaped Clementine, it goes against the character I defined with my playstyle and choices.
Onto the plot of the Books, Lee is obviously going to be a big focus, he was a major part of her life, so it makes sense, Clementine is traumatized over what happened with Lee, but how I interpreted The Final Season's Ending, she seemed to finally put that behind her, instead of dwelling on her past, she could look to her future. Now, I get trauma isn't something that just "goes away", I don't expect Clementine to just get over what happened, but I felt that the entire Journey, she always held herself at fault, trying to give Lee's death some meaning, Lee's goal was to keep her safe, and have her live on and be happy, she got that, so I thought that in being at Ericson's, she could fulfill what Lee wanted and have his passing mean something, and look, it still does, but not as much. She was safe at Ericson's, she was happy, but now she's out venturing in the wild, with the Ski Lodge in the Appalachian Mountains being her goal for now, but she is at far more risk of dying, especially with a peg leg.
When the Books were announced, I was very unhappy, but I thought to myself, I care about Clementine that much, I'll read the Books, I love the character of Clementine, but I'm in the process of replaying the Series, which I am having a blast with so far, and it kills me knowing that the Ending it all leads up to, isn't the true Ending it should have been. I pre-ordered the Book back in July, but I think, if I care as much about Clementine as much as I know and say I do, then I'll cancel the preorder, and not support the Book in any way, shape or form. I preordered to give it a chance, to judge the Book by itself instead of being a continuation, but I can't, so I won't. I won't support something I clearly don't support, and I think I was pretty silly in going the route of paying to support a Book that I was completely against from day one.
As vocally as I have been about much I really dislike what's happening, and the Story of the Trilogy, I don't hold the author, Tillie Walden, at fault. I am sure she is a remarkably talented writer, and I would like to read one of her other Books. As I said earlier that for the Books to be a thing, what happened had to happen, no matter who the author is. The problem is the idea of continuing it in the first place, because the way The Walking Dead: The Final Season ended, you couldn't really continue it without absolutely wrecking the definitive Ending it gave.
My love for The Walking Dead is still there, and as I continue to play through the Series again, I'll see that more and more, I love it that much, that I don't wish to read the Books, because it just goes against the Series. Anyways, if anyone read this, fair play, thanks for reading, I hope this is one of the only times I chat about the Books, if I ever do chat about it again, I hope it is a long way down the road from now, because as it's been made clear, it makes me unhappy, and I would be a hypocrite to encourage other members of the Forums to move on from media they don't like to just dwell on media I don't like.
All in all, fuck the new Clementine books coming.
I am in pretty much agreement with everything you have said here and have vocalized my thoughts that I just do not have the time and energy to write and flesh out. I’ve kept my focus on these books in spite of my disdain for them because, even though I have no expectations, it involves Clem. She’s still my favorite character, I’m invested so much time into her story that I feel as if I have to, begrudgingly, know what happens, even if it screams as being the complete opposite of what my Clem would have done.
This can honestly be the best thing that they have said. Usually, I’m not a fan of when fans just declare what they view as canon or non-canon. I see this a lot in regards to The Legend of Korra, that people who don’t like it just call it not canon to the Avatar series. No, it is, you just didn’t like it, but something being canon is not dependent on that. The same is true here, but only up to an extent. The player choice factor offers an easy out, because if they do go down a route that has them alluding or referencing certain decisions that you or I didn’t make, then we’re clear. So far, they’ve been careful and have worked around that by steering clear of it, but you can’t keep that up with how big these books are going to be.
That was me at the start, as much as I wanted to just drop it, I wanted to try and look at it as a standalone piece of material that isn't tied to the games, but I can't do that, because it's tied, it's building off the games somehow when it's ignoring them at the same time.
I just feel it shouldn't have had to be said at all if the Books weren't a thing. And I had the very same attitude about canon and non-canon, but I'll say now, purely to maintain my love for the Series, that I'll consider the Books to not be canon. Knowing that my Journey with Clementine didn't end how it was meant to with The Final Season, instead she's canonically going to walk away from the home she had with AJ, that bothers me, it does ruin the Series for me, so for me, I have to cut out the Books. They say ignorance is bliss, in this case, I'd just like to be able to enjoy the Series and not have to worry about the Books throwing away what the entire Series built up to and ended on.
That is a solid point, absolutely brilliant to be honest, let's say the Clementine Books portray Clementine as someone who stayed with Jane, or the Alone Ending, I suppose it could be considered canon to those Stories and not mine? But then I think about players with those Endings who don't approve of it. I think they'd have been much better off saying it isn't canon, but being a spin-off that caters to the audience that wanted another game with Clementine, off adventuring, without tampering with the Ending, I feel it was a very poor decision that wasn't thought through too well, like they knew they had to GTFO from the Boarding School, but I think maybe the weight of that decision was underestimated? Throwing away that Ending, with all its significance and the poetic nature of it, I always felt it would lead to the reaction that these Books have received.
What bothers me though is just how quiet Skybound have been, back when The Final Season was in their hands and they were handling the last two Episodes, they were always communicating, may not have always been giving substantial information, but they felt present, fast forward with these Books, there's been little communication, plenty of previews, so I take that as them wanting the previews to change some minds because they may feel words might not cut it, but look at Telltale with A New Frontier, they bit the bullet and spoke about their creative decisions head on, I don't think there's been too much of that here, when the target audience is the players of the Series, who are pretty universally against the Books, I think that's when you regroup, think about what's happening with it, and address the elephant in the room, and maybe reconsider the messaging going forward. It's meant to be a trilogy of Books, and Book One right before it's out of the gate has so much heavy lifting to do in order to give people a reason to give it, Book Two and Book Three a chance, and examining that Book One just ignores Four Seasons worth of Story, I think the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against it.
POV: You finally let Telltale's TWD go and can simply ignore the Clem comics
Clementine Books made after the real ending to the franchise turning out to be garbage, I be like:
The art book and screenplay for Pixar's Luca are currently free to view online for a limited time as part of Disney's awards campaign run.
While the art book is only free online for a bit, you can actually download the screenplay which is neat.
Holy cow
I guess The Cuphead Show isn't going to be the short-order, narratively-driven Netflix series I was expecting..
I hope it's not just a series of unconnected shorts, but I guess the game itself doesn't have much story to draw on?
Hot damn, that's a lot of episodes. The article mentions that the Devil is still the main villain and that he'll be popping in every now and again to mess with Cuphead and Mugman so it's possible that while it won't be super plot heavy, there will be an overarching storyline.
Though I wonder if they'll still go with the backstory of the brothers betting their souls away at a casino and having to go reap the souls of the people in debt to the Devil or suffer eternal damnation lol.
I like the ending TWD telltale series. Not the stupid comics. These comics are garbage. I ignore them. Cause I don't care if ppl say they are Canon. Nope! Not in my mind or anything. They aren't canon to me. I don't like it
What just happened too discord it just crashed and all my community’s I’m in aren’t there!!??
Day 11 of not knowing how to post GIFs and share images to the Forums, I could've sworn that Metallica and CrazedRabbit posted GIFs in response to me to rub it in, but I can't be certain. I long for the day that I can share some sweet GIFs and images to bless these Forums...one day.
When you go to leave a comment the tool bar on the top left above the comment box, the furthest to the right on that row you will see an image icon. Click it and post in a link to an image. It will work as long as the image ends with .png .jpg .gif
HELL YEAH!
This one's for you Poogs
Aaaand the price for the most awkward trailer of all time goes to this lil beaut. Clementines absolute trainwreck of a return in stores June 22nd. Aren't y'all excited?!?!!
You know they have high hopes when they don’t even have comments enabled.
EDIT: Okay, so I finally got a chance to watch the trailer…what the fuck did I just watch? What theme is this going for exactly? The music and style matches NOTHING reminiscing TWD. It does feel like a coming of age thing, which is redundant considering that you can say the entire series was literally that for Clementine, coming into her own and finding what’s most important to her and the lengths she’s willing to go to defend it, all of which is best exemplified in TFS. It’s like they are actively trying to piss off the fandom as much as possible. Also, way to rub salt into the wounds of anyone who romanced Louis or Violet by having “And new love” in the trailer. I do remember reading something about how the author wanted to use this trilogy to explore what it was like to be queer in a zombie apocalypse. Nice going Tillie, all you had to do was break up an actual queer romance in order for you to explore what we had already gotten in the last game of the series, you fucktard. Seriously, is no one actually offended by that, because if I was a Violetine shipper, I’d be fucking pissed. Hell I’m a Clouis one and I’m livid, but this, you’re actively separating a well done gay romance, just to “explore” another one? Congrats Tillie, you included representation…by eliminating representation, you fucking moron. Doesn’t that just cancel each other out?
Eugh, that coming-of-age teen vibe the trailer gives off is so off-putting.
I'm not saying a teen-demographic zombie story can't be told -- I owned the first book of a tween zombie series called "The Zombie Chasers" in my years, and it was pretty enjoyable -- this just feels like such a heel-turn from what this could be, from what we know Clementine and TWD as... hrmph.
So excited, I can barely contain it, it's leaking out of me, through the eyes
What on Earth is the tone of this trailer
Hey, you figured it out, I knew you could do it, I had the upmost faith in you.
(damn it Poogs)
I ordered a book from Amazon but the box it came in looks like it was packaged by a deaf Matt Murdock and then thrown off a building.
@MetallicaRules I can't believe you've done this to me.
Try not to comment on the Clem comic trailer after saying ignore the comics challenge
[!!!WARNING!!! IMPOSSIBLE BECAUSE THAT TRAILER WAS FUNNY AS HELL]
That trailer just makes the novel worse. Also that new girlfriend is possibly a self insert from the writer because they look kinda similar, they wear the same glasses and they’re both in Vermont and the writer in the year of 2010 would’ve been a teen. I’ve said my case on r/TheWalkingDeadGame with my opinion on the novel it’s awful and we’re getting it in the same year TWDG Season 1 turns 10.
Yup also Violetine fan here. I am really fuckin pissed off. Like WTF!!!! Omfg! This is pathetic and sad. Like who TF thought this was a good idea?!?
Guys, no need to get upset. That trailer is made through After Effects and Clementine is not the Werewolf.
Unless the package says EWR4 on it, I had nothing to do with it.
I don't know about some of you all, but let me tell you, it's a good feeling to not let stuff live rent-free in your heads. Do not let Clementine destroy you! I've gradually given up holding grudges; just got to ignore and move on. Being angry all the time is no fun. Serenity now, insanity later!
NOTE: Yeah, the clip doesn't make a lot of sense given what I just said but it's funny so who cares. And don't feel I'm trying to preach to you guys; just seeing so many people unhappy makes me unhappy, you know?
I can't believe Tifa from Final Fantasy is now part of the italian senate.
ingen spitting facts. Remember everyone. Inner Peace.
gonna awkwardly bring up wolf 2 theory/idea stuff but I was thinking about how Detective Brannigan is probably going to return based on what we know about Wolf 2 revisiting old ideas and the devs purposely avoiding talking about her but I sort of realized I feel having Brannigan in season 2 would probably work way better than if her plot were in season 1. I always felt that plot line was probably for the best being cut, as it would sort of get in the way. However, thinking about it, S2 Brannigan may have actually been figuring this all out in the background which could be a great opportunity for all our season 1 choices to come back in s2 as Brannigan may actually show how she pieced together a pattern based on our choices as an outsider looking in. I think the idea of her approaching Bigby months after these events rather than during works a lot better for a sequel and makes her appearance in s1 feel more important. Sort of like an "oh shit her again" but now she has more of a backing. Could even turn the Bigby running in the streets in ep 5 into an actual plot point of evidence she now has for something being off.
Done platinuming Spider-Man: Miles Morales. It wasn't that hard, actually.
I agree with that idea.
Thank you, Dojo.
If they end up doing that I really hope that they don't have Bluebeard pay her a visit at the end or something.
Watched the first 3 episodes of All of Us are Dead. So far, I am enjoying it and surprisingly, each episode appears to be more than one hour long and the first season contains 12 episodes. I don't think it reaches the same quality as Kingdom or Train to Busan because there are a few problems that I encountered but I can already say it comes third unless there are more issues that bother me in the later episodes.
Thus caps the end of one of the most illustrious careers in not just the NFL, but the entire sporting world. 22 seasons and was still one of the best in the game. I don’t like Brady for the same reason a lot of people don’t like the Yankees, it gets old seeing him succeed and win so many times, but there’s also a huge level of respect for him as a player and his accomplishments on the field. He has more Super Bowl wins than any team, and there’s no doubt he is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, quarterback of all time.
EDIT: Maybe not