Let's talk about 400 Days. (Spoilers inside)

It's time to do this once again. Who died. Who lived. Seriously, that girl was a 10 right? RIGHT!?

I enjoyed it, and I'm sticking to my "no replay" style, even though I think I messed things up by playing it out of order. I really want to play it again making the same choices too see some of the crazy tie in stuff. (Who the crew at the diner really are for instance)

Anyway, choices

• Shot Justin
• Stayed in the car
• Stayed with Nate
• Told the truth to Leland
• Killed Stephanie

Wyatt and Bonnie left the camp, Russell, Vince and Shel stayed behind.

Also, Nate is a great, yet completely fucking crazy character. A shame he died off in my playthrough (if he can even survive that is.) I'll add more later, but trying to keep it vague for now because not many people have it yet, and I don't want people using this to spoil others.

You marked a topic with spoilers, but you're still trying to avoid spoilers?

Well, I just finished it, and I gotta say....it wasn't up to snuff.

Granted, it isn't a fully fleshed out episode, it's merely a bridge for the 2 seasons, but still. I didn't feel like this was Telltale's best Walking Dead episode. The voice acting was okay, the dialogue seemed a little light, and the choices didn't have that Catch-22 feeling to them, probably because you weren't given nearly enough time to bond with any of the characters.

All of this made the last scene (the woman trying to convince the group to come with her) even weirder, because yes, I do recognize all of these characters, but I don't necessarily care about them as much as I should.

I don't know, maybe I'm judging it too harshly, but with as amazing as Season 1 was, can you blame me?

Yeah it was good. Nothing amazing though. Kinda how I felt with the first episode of Season 1. But it's definitely got me excited for more Walking Dead.

And, my choices:

• Shot Justin's foot off (That part was so fucked up. I felt quite bad doing it)
• Stayed in the car (Didn't actually mean to leave that guy behind)
• Stayed with Nate (Fucker is crazy and was actually thinking about pulling the gun on him)
• Lied to Leland (Seemed the best thing to do. Also, fuck Dee)
• Left in the RV (Took me a minute to choose if I wanted to leave of kill Stephanie, but ended up leaving)

I liked it a lot, actually. Hard to care too much about the characters when you only get like 15-20 minutes with them, but still found some of the choices tough even without being attached to them. Didn't stand up to season 1, of course, but I wasn't really expecting it to.

My choices:

• Shot Danny's foot off
• Got out of the car (lost the game of Rock Paper Scissors)
• Left Nate (in retrospect I should've stayed and tried to save the couple, but left in the heat of the moment)
• Told Leland the truth
• Killed Stephanie

Vince and Bonnie ended up leaving at the end. Also, hiding next to Carley's (or Doug's, I suppose) body was really fucked up, caught me totally off guard. Definitely got a reaction out of me.

Did you win or lose intentional? Once I realized he only threw rock and that I also want to go there I threw the third hand.

@gorillamopena: I tried to win and he switched it up and ended up calling me out for picking Rock.

I really liked this episode and it has me looking forward to season 2. I was a little bit worried that the second season wouldn't be as strong because creating a sympathetic child character is the easiest way to make the audience feel strongly about your story. 400 days showed me that the writing is as strong as ever and I was intrigued by most of the new characters (didn't really care about Russel) and I really hope that the ones that went to the camp (or didn't) aren't locked out of my season 2.

The real question is though: Lobster claws or snake tongue?

@gorillamopena: Nah, I wasn't trying to lose (or win, really), just playing naturally. He threw more than rock for me, I specifically remember him winning with scissors then saying something about paper always losing, or something like that.

I don't think it was as good as season one, but if this is the cast for season two...well I like some of them already

-Shot Justin's foot. He was the non pedophile, right? I left with the pedo because he seemed more regretful.

-Left the car Also carried the body back.

-Left Nate. Nate was fucking wacked and Russel didn't need that.

-Left in the RV

-Told the truth to Leland

-Bonnie, Shel, Russel, Wyatt, and Becca left with Tavia. Vince stayed behind. Which is unfortunate because Vince was my favorite.

How did Nate die? I played through twice, stayed with him once and left him once, and he survived both times.

Overall, I thought the DLC was pretty interesting. Obviously, it didn't have nearly the impact of the actual game but it was alright, I guess.

• Shot the alleged "rapist" (I forget his name) on the bus but this isn't really the choice I wanted to make. I didn't realize what I was doing and if I had realized that the person I shot was being left behind to die, I would have shot the other guy.
• Lost the rock-paper-scissors game, tried to drag the body back to the car and got abandoned. Looking back it was probably a dumb idea to take the cop back since he was already pretty much dead.
• Left Nate because he was a fucking dick.
• Told the truth to Leland.
• Let the guy who stole go and left the group in the RV
• Wyatt and Russell stayed at the camp, everyone else left.

I guess this is the jumping off point for season 2 and this is going to be the new group? I think they're all pretty interesting and should make for a good season but I'm definitely gonna miss Clem.

- Shot Justin (The other guy just seemed more agreeable)

- Stayed in the car (ended up leaving Eddie behind without realizing)

- Left Nate (not sure if I could have stopped him from killing the old couple)

- Lied to Leland (I didn't really lie so much as I avoided the question but I guess that still counts as a lie)

- Killed Stephanie (hardest choice in the game for me but I decided that it was best to keep Shel's sister safe even if she does seem heartless)

- Bonnie, Shel, Becca and Wyatt left with Tavia while Russel and Vince stayed at the camp.

@hunkulese: They didn't say exactly how, which makes me wonder how to keep him alive.

Interested to see how the whole community thing plays out. For all we know, it could become another Crawford, and the people that didn't go are the ones you eventually run into.

Aside from the mention of Vernon and his boat and the side of the road moment, were there more tie-ins to season 1? I wonder if I just missed some or if there really weren't that many.

I didn't notice any other references to season 1 other then what @recspec noticed. Do we know approximately how many days season 1 took place over?

• Shot the guy that was closest to back of the truck.
• Left Nate
• Lied to Leland
• Drove away and didn't kill Stephanie.
• Vince stayed behind.. damn it.

I'm interested if anyone played it out of order like me, I didn't know that the positions on the board was "correct" from top row left to right, then bottom left and right (I think). I did it like this:

1. Vince (Day 2)
2. Wyatt (Day 41)
3. Shel (Day 236-259)
4. Russel (Day 184)
5. Bonnie (Day 220)

I'm guessing that Season 2, or at least part of it, is going to take place before the end of 400 days. There're 150 or so days between the last story and when they're found around the fire. It seems kind of silly to introduce the new characters only to have them segregated for the start of season 2. I feel that we've been given the beginning and ending of the character arcs and season 2 will be the middle. Maybe they'll do a character per episode.

I did the same. Don't fully understand why Vince stayed behind in mine though, as he seemed to be coming round to going with her. Maybe the game doesn't allow a full group to go to the larger community?

As for play order, I went:

1. Vince (Day 2)
2. Shel (Day 236-259)
3. Bonnie (Day 220)
4. Wyatt (Day 41)
5. Russel (Day 184)

Some opinions (in spoiler text, just to play it safe):

The Vince storyline was pretty good, and it was a bit of a shame to leave Justin behind. He was a dick, but not enough of one to let him bleed out with one foot. Doesn't seem like it 'mattered' like much anyway, as Danny wasn't at the camp.

The Shel storyline was likely my favourite, personally. Also, guard zombies?! Mental idea, but it seemed to work for them.

Lobster hands, of course. A snake tongue I can't control? Sod that!

Turns out I suck at Rock, Paper, Scissors. Did manage to cause a draw three times in a row though, which the game actually reacted to in a quite amusing way.

Nate was a solid ten out of ten nutjob, that's for sure.

Also, the fact that Venyon taking the boat caused their group to collapse gave me a little chuckle, I have to admit.

Got everyone to come with me at the camp except for Vince. Was shocked by how many people lied to Leland.

Russel's episode was the one I disliked the most. I tried to shoot his crazy partner when I had the chance, but it didn't let me. Also, I would have liked the option to rob the old couple of their food without killing them, but eh.

My favorite was probably Shel's. Reminded me of Episode 2 of Season 1 and it had the hardest decision for me to make by either leaving in the RV or killing Stephanie.

• Shot Justin's foot off
• Stayed in the car
• Left Nate
• Told Leland the truth (Seemed the best thing to do. Also, fuck Dee)
• Killed Stephanie

Bonnie, Shel, Becca and Wyatt left with Tavia. Russel and Vince stayed at the camp. Might try to replay the Tavia section so that everyone comes to the camp.. although saying that I don't really care about Russel or Vince.

@callmetetris said:

Oh wow, I didn't even notice that the body was Carley's. That's messed up.

I did a shit convincing job at the end, apparently, cuz only Bonnie came with. She was the least interesting for me, although i can see season two have five episodes with each episode dedicated to a different character. Not sure how i'd feel about that, actually, but I'd like to see everyone be part of S2 in some fashion. I really enjoyed the Russ/Nate storyline, and Wyatt's was good, too. Really, it's all good, you just don't get enough time to bond with anyone.

Speaking of callbacks, another one was a flash of the drug store when Vince was running from the cops.

• shot the thief's foot off (pedophile didn't seem hard to deal with)
• stayed in the car (I'm the best at rock paper scissors)
• Left Nate (He was going to kill that old couple no matter what)
• Lied to Leland (Didn't think he would handle the truth well)
• Killed Stephanie (Didn't want my heartless daughter to be mad at me/that placed seemed safe if you follow the rules
• Bonnie and Wyatt left ( I didn't try too hard to convince people to go, I let them make their own minds up)

Hiding next to Doug's body was sad. Also the whole Vernon and boat explanation went over my head, could someone summarize the situation for me?

I'm pretty sure dialogue choice and character actions have a more significant impact on whether they leave the camp or not at the end than what you say as Tavia (though that probably influences things as well).

And you should immediately know what the boat refers to if you finished season 1. It was episode 4, I believe, that was all about the plan to get a boat and then get it working. The boat eventually got stolen.

I'm assuming it won't let you but did anyone try and let Becca kill Stephanie?

I only got Bonnie, Shel, and Becca to come with Tavia. While that kind of bummed me out that the others didn't come, they were actually the characters I probably sympathized with the most(though I really liked Russell's episode). If these are the eventual main characters of Season 2, I would totally be okay with that.

All in all, it was pretty excellent. Shows that they aren't a one-trick pony, and Season 2 could continue their awesomeness.

• Shot Danny's foot off
• Left the car (and I was trying to get that rock paper scissors achievement)
• Left Nate (serves him right that creepy shithead)
• Told Leland the truth (admit what happened was an accident)
• Drove that RV the fuck off (this was a hard decision to make. Even if I killed Stephanie, things would continue to go tits up. It was best to leave before things got any worse.)
• Somehow managed to get everyone to go with Tavia to wherever she comes from. (Woodbury???)

Also, must have missed the Carley/Doug's body part because nothing like that came up for me on my playthrough.

Oh man if season 2 was set in Woodbury that would be so damn awesome. Not sure how I hadn't even thought of that having played through 400 Days twice now.

And in Russell's story, when Nate comes driving up, you have the choice to stand your ground or hide. If you choose to hide, he jumps down onto the side of the road and you end up right next to the dead body of Carley/Doug.

@meaninoflife42: I'm guessing you didn't hide from the car in the beginning of Russel's episode. If you choose to hide you jump down right next to Carley or Doug's body just off the road.

@fluxwavez:

And you should immediately know what the boat refers to if you finished season 1. It was episode 4, I believe, that was all about the plan to get a boat and then get it working. The boat eventually got stolen.

I was trying to say what happened to Vernon and the boat after they stole it, only a couple of people from Vernon's group are at the truck stop without a boat. Did Vernon take the boat on his own? That's the part I missed.

• - Shot off Danny's foot (It was his idea to shoot the cuffs, so I thought he was willing to sacrifice himself. I regret it.)
• - Stayed in the Car (Got 1 tie, I was really hoping Eddie was willing to listen and get back in the car)
• - Left Nate (Seemed like Russell left on his own, not really my choice?)
• - Honest to Leland (I was hoping he'd listen)
• - Killed Stephanie (I felt like staying at that truckstop for a while longer was a better idea despite the shit going down.)
• - Bonnie, Vince and Wyatt left
• - Russell, Shel and Becca stayed

Really interested for Season 2 now. My faves are Shel, Wyatt and Russell.

Ah, then I'm not sure/it's not stated. I guess they might have used the boat or not, but eventually ended up at the truck stop with Vernon died for some reason while getting out of Savannah.

@matsemann08: @redbullet685: I see. I'm sticking with a "one-time playthrough" method so I won't be able to see other parts of the game. (Like when I chose to let Ben fall to his death in the tower, I apparently missed a bunch of the episode if I chose to save him instead.)

Really liked this one. Some bummer choices that I really feel icky about, even though I feel like I did the best I could in a shitty situation. In particular, I feel bad about Shel straight-up executing Stephanie in front of her sister; the parts where I felt like I was shaping Clementine through my actions was the most affecting part of Season 1, so that sort of thing always gets to me. Anyway:

• Shot Justin's foot
• Left the car
• Left Nate
• Lied to Leland
• Killed Stephanie

Bonnie left the camp, everyone else stayed. Wonder what impact that's going to have. I seriously doubt any of those characters will be absent in Season 2, regardless; seems like one of those things that the writers would find a way to funnel back into one place.

• Shot Danny's foot off (that was actually a mistake, once you choose a direction, you can't go back, oh well)
• Left Nate
• Left the Car
• Tole Leland the truth
• Killed Stephanie

Vince and Bonnie left the camp. I wanted Russell to go along with them, but he just didn't bring himself to do it. Fuck Wyatt.

I got the sensation that whatever happens, this group could potentially make up some of the antagonists in the next season or something to that effect.

• Shot the white collar guy's foot off.
• Left Nate because he was crazy. I also failed to catch the gun when he throws it. I'm pretty sure he was the first zombie guard too.
• Left the car. I got about three or four ties and it was unique dialogue every time. That was pretty cool.
• Told the truth because why wouldn't I?
• Left with the RV. I couldn't kill Stephanie, she reminded me too much of a gal I used to know.
• Also... Lobster hands or Snake tongue? Both! They're so attractive!

OH! Bonnie and Shel left with the gal and the other three stayed.

What I'm wondering was what was in the bag that Dee stole? Was that ever mentioned? Maybe in Shel's story?

I played the one in the car in the forest, the one on the prison bus and the one with the drug addict. I have to say, compared to the first five episodes, this was pretty terrible. Compared to just about anything it was pretty terrible. And I agree with anyone who says The Walking Dead was easily in the GOTY conversation last year.

But this...this was just garbage. I really have no interest in seeing how it all plays out but I feel like I have to just in case things bleed into Season 2. I'd really hate for these three people I've played as already to be the actual characters of the season, though.

I shot Danny's foot off, since he wouldn't confess to his crimes.

I left in the RV with Becca.

I was truthful to Leland.

I lost the Rock, Paper, Scissors match and went outside, and then I attempted to drag the guy back to the car.

I left Nate, because that guy is freaking insane.

In the end, I got all five of them to come with me, which made me really happy. I would have replayed it otherwise to try and get them all to come, but knowing this game, I assume regardless of whether you actually get them to come, they'll still play a role in season 2, especially if they're meant to be major characters.

The episode was just ok. I was glad for more Walking Dead stuff, but this episode was just... meh.

Everyone except for Bonnie stayed at the camp in my game. Does she leave no matter what you do? I haven't heard of a situation in which she stays yet.

Due to the nature of this game, being short stories with unfamiliar characters, I was playing a bit more brashly than I ever did as Lee, so when I started playing as Russell and the truck pulled up I choose to stand my ground...if I hide, is that when you "reunite with an old friend"? I assume Carley/Doug lays dead at the side of the road?

Bonnie, Vince and Shel left the camp. Wyatt and Vince stayed.

Am I the only one that got everyone to come with her at the end? No one stayed behind for me.

I left the car and tried dragging the cop then got left behind.

I told the truth to Leland.

I ran away in the RV.

I ran away from the guy with the gun as Russell.

I shot the "rapist" guy in the foot because he's the one who had the idea to shoot his leg.

I like how they are all connected even before they all become a group. Noticing that Nate's truck had a light shot out and that Bonnie was being chased by a group with flashlights in a cornfield was a big "oh shit" moment for me.

• Shot Dannys foot off (I actually didn't realize I was shooting him until it was too late. Thought I was aiming for the chain, oh well. Didn't like leaving with the blatant liar though. Lose lose situation.)
• Stayed in the car (Didn't mean to leave him behind, but he did want to get out.)
• Dealt with Stephanie (I basically let the little girl choose, and she seemed fine with it.)
• Stayed with Nate (He gave me a ride and respected me after the old man was racist.)
• Was honest to Leland (I actually got killed the first time so hitting her was the only real option.)

Played them in the order above. Everybody left with Tavia for the camp except for Shel. Not sure why or why not. Wyatt & Bonnie seemed like the only people who wanted to leave.

Overall, I really liked this short story episode. I didn't have a super close connection with anyone, but some of the decisions and outcomes made me feel emotional. Now I'm even more pumped up for more content.

@jeanluc said:

Hey jeanluc, I'm a bit confused, but curious. What was the connection with Boonie being chased by a group with flashlights?

Also I liked the fact that part of the group with Shel were the cancer survivors from the first season.

Although, I'm confused on why Nate was going after Wyatt and that other guy. Nate didn't mention anything to Russel about it.

In Shel's story, when the girls are checking on the supplies they have a pile of flashlights. If you click on it, they comment on how one of them is missing and its probably still back at a cornfield. Once you put that together and pay attention to the silhouettes of the people chasing Bonnie, Its almost definitely Shel's group that was attacking them.

@8bitavrin: During the start of the Shel segment someone comments that they're missing a flashlight and that someone must have dropped it in the cornfield. They dropped it when they were chasing Bonnie and company.

How this makes any sense is beyond me. They opened fire on three harmless people but after I gave the order to execute the Asian guy who broke in everyone got all moody and tense. There's some real disconnect there.

Here is the song that Nate plays in the truck while he is freaking out Russell.

I love Dan Sartain, and was so distracted by the song that I poorly handled the choice prompts when they came up.

@8bitavrin: Bonnie was being chased by a group of 3 in the cornfield. The connection here is to Shel's group. When you start the Shel story you go over your group's supplies, and if you talk to Stephanie, she says that they are still missing one of the flashlights in the cornfield. The Bonnie and Shel story's take place within a few weeks of each other (Bonnie's day 220, and Shel 236), so you're lead to believe Bonnie was being chased by 3 people from Shel's group. Can't tell you why they chased after Bonnie, though. Maybe they thought Bonnie (and Dee and Leland) was trying to steal from them or attack.

And about Nate going after Wyatt, well, Wyatt and his friend talk about how the friend (can't remember his name) had accidentally shot one of Nate's group thinking he was a walker. So, Nate tried to chase after them and I guess kill them. The reason why it isn't mentioned to Russell is because Wyatt's story takes place 41 days in, and Russell's is 184 days in. It was old news and didn't matter to Nate by that point. No reason to mention it to Russell.

I'm feeling pretty ambivalent about 400 Days. On the one hand I really enjoyed getting back into the game world of TWD and making all these split-second principled decisions again. The general scene-setting, dialogue and characterisation were all nearly at the level of the original game. I would pay a fiver for this experience any time. On the other hand, I felt the writing suuuuucked in terms of the big pivotal choice moments. Almost every single one felt like a contrived bogus moral dilemma that either made little sense or was very hard to believe in. While Lee had been successfully depicted as a rational, reasonable guy who almost always gave me the option of doing what I wanted him to, or close to it, almost none of these characters did that.

My choices and gripes:

• Once Danny suggested shooting the cuffs off, why did all three prisoners suddenly reach an understanding that Vince meant to blow their feet off? Why would he do that as a first option anyway? Wouldn't it make sense to at least try placing the muzzle laterally against the cuff and blowing it off that way, point blank? Add to that, the fact that there's no warning you're going to leave the stricken guy behind, so no wonder a couple of the posts here mention misunderstanding the consequences of this moment. Confusing and frustrating, I actually timed out on this choice first time round because I couldn't figure out what Vince intended to even do. Anyway I left with Danny.
• Shel and Becca - they are part of a group that chains up and feeds two walkers. Yet when an intruder busts in, they don't even consider keeping him as a prisoner. I kept silent on the vote (in my eyes, I abstained), and Roman decided to let the guy go. Fast forward a while, and suddenly Roman is bitching me out for having 'persuaded' him to let the guy go, although I only really remember having told Roman 'fuck you'... Fine, whatever, that's persuasive I suppose. I can let that slide. What I can't let slide is that the only options for Stephanie are killing her or running away. The group wouldn't even debate it...? Not even raise the basic point that she's unaffiliated with any outside group and so doesn't present the same threat? Or talk about the impracticality of running a group like a prison camp when there's only 5 people in it...? Very clumsy and unbelievable.
• Wyatt was the worst one. I was enjoying that scenario, digging both the characters. I decided that Eddie was stressed and that I'd do a better, quicker job of checking out the body. I insisted on leaving the car once. I insisted on leaving the car twice. I refused to play RPS because to me that meant 'no games, shut the fuck up, I'm going outside'. The game treated this as telling Eddie to go outside. I really, really wanted to go outside, but got forced out of it because the game just wants to railroad you into the RPS game while describing your options poorly. Other people here talk about wanting to stay inside and being forced to go outside after LOSING. So Eddie, apparently, just wants the opposite to what you want, regardless of what you want! I guess he simply loves playing rock-paper-scissors...? This is nonsense. Wouldn't be surprised if Whitta had a hand in this one.
• Bonnie. I had been pretty much satisfied with the scenario in this one. Then I read what happens if you don't hit Dee. That made it laughable and unbelievable. Dee was out to kill you?! Even while trying to remain undetected by hunters? Utterly unbelievable and contrived. It may not have been the storyline I experienced, but I know it's there and it's the only other option. It stinks. The choice to hit her only means something if failing to hit her also means something, but it's just a poorly justified and confusing fail-state. Lack of real consequence was a minor drawback of the original game but it was never as clumsy as that. The outcome of this scenario also suffered from Telltale's overly transparent moral stance towards the act of lying; just as in the original, the truth always somehow comes out and bites you in some contrived way. Some of their writers need to realise that in a world of desperate grown-ups, lying can be very effective tactic, (cf. marketing, PR, politicians, fraudsters, sociopaths). It shouldn't just be an obvious pitfall of 'OH-HO you were tempted to lie?! NAUGHTY NAUGHTY!'
• Russell. No problems with this one. Nate was crazy. I didn't want to be around Nate. I said 'goodbye, Nate'. I left Nate. Perfect. It just seemed to make for a really short vignette.

Russell and Vince stayed behind for me

So, did anyone let the guy go in Shel's story? What happens after that?

If you kill him the group is felling pretty down, and they talk about how it's not the same since they killed the guy. How do they get to that part of the dialog when you let him go?

@matsemann08 said:

I let him go. I stayed quiet on the 2-2 split vote (for reasons I mention above) and Roman makes the call to release him. After the fast forward, they mention that the group got raided and Boyd the veggies guy was killed. Roman, feeling guilty, has turned the group into some kind of weird dictatorship where everyone's feeling down and, apparently, nobody's allowed to leave for the rest of their lives.

@matsemann08: I let him go. It cuts to a few weeks later, everyone's bummed out, Shel and Becca are playing cards in the RV. It's revealed through dialogue that the guy came back with a group and one of the people in Shel's group (I want to say Boyd?) was killed in the attack.