The Walking Dead S2 E1 Discussion (Spoilers)

"All That Remains"

So, what did you think of the first episode of season 2

What decisions did you make?

So I'm definitely choosing to make my Clementine as though as the games allows, well, not always, but most of the time.

Hey this should probably get moved to the Season 2 forum?

@drzing:

Kinda forgot the fact that this is a separate game from the first one.

The most memorable moment was probably the dog and the shed scene.

Threatening the bitch: "Who's the father?". Amazing.

A lot of disturbing stuff in this episode, Clementine was really put through the wringer in this one. Don't regret getting back at some of the people in this one, they deserved it. Blackmailing Rebecca felt great after all that.

With Lee I was may more receptive to other people and played the good guy the whole time more or less, with clem I'm finding it a lot easier to be a lot more stern with people who deserve it.... I think this episode was great, loads of big moments, emotional scenes (talking about Lee in this episode was genuinely upsetting) and a lot of OH MY GAWD I cant look at this!

Fantastic use of QTE with the whole stitching scene, that made me feel super uncomfortable and hesitant. I'm glad they've implemented the more 'Wolf Among Us' approach to combat scenes it feels a lot more fluid.

I am also enjoying the new characters so far

Overall: Impressed/10

PS: I burnt the drawing

Yes, I loved threatening her with that, talk about satisfying after how big of a bitch she has been to you all this time.

Also, does anyone else think this is starting off way too brutal? I thought I was in for just a simple introduction episode like the first episode of season 1, but then OMID DIES IN THE FIRST TEN MINUTES! I actually yelped when that happened because it was so unexpected.

Anyway, I killed the dog, because I didn't wanna let it suffer despite what it did to me, I decided to be Sarah's friend so she'd help me (I hope this doesn't bite me in the ass later), and I gave the dying man some water, I accpted Nick's apology, and at the very end, I went with Pete instead of Nick, despite the fact that Pete was clearly bitten. With the preview of the next episode, I REALLY hope we cut his leg off in time!

Also, there was a choice of whether to take the watch from that one guy's room when you're sneaking around the place, and it didn't seem to play any significant role yet. I was going to leave it, but I decided that since it gave me the option to take it, I might as well, since it could lead into something later on.

Overall, I thought the episode was fun, though the bit where you're stitching up Clem's arm went on for far too long I felt. It's like... Ok, I get it already. OK, can we move on? God damn!

Yay Omid is back! ... *Omid dies* :(

Hey a dog! ... "Kill Dog" :(

Oh thank god a group! These people will totally help me! ..."Press A to torture Clem with needle" :(

"What happened to your friend? -I killed him." :(

...

Goddammit, fuck you Telltale.

As someone that loved the first season.. meh to this episode. I mean I know the first episode of the first season wasn't spectacular either, but I feel like this one was a pretty big retread. Maybe it's just because I played The Wolf Among Us recently and really appreciated how it tried for more interesting scenarios (like decisions involving more vague consequences, instead of HE DIES OR HE DIES), but I just kind of got bored with the choices I had to make here. Yes, I burnt the log because why would I burn the two mementos of my dead friends instead? Yes, I didn't suddenly decide to abandon Christa. Yes, I didn't decide to leave a dog to bleed to death in agony. Yes, I was nice to the girl who could help me. The only choice I had to think about was Nick or Pete, and when you weigh "young guy who has already made amends with you" and "older dude who clearly just got bit", it got pretty easy. It just felt kind of cheap to go for the exact same "Decide who lives of these two characters at the end of the episode" trick twice.

Looking forward to the next episode because I do like the look of this new group of survivors and will be interested to see where it goes. But yeah, not impressed.

Oh, and how about the whole "sneaking out of the shed" segment? Did anyone else find it really weird that they had no option but to escape? I could understand if it was left more vague whether they were going to kill Clem or not, but they flat-out said that they'd help her in the morning. The Clem I know would not disobey an agreement to steal supplies from a group of survivors, and it just felt like it came out of nowhere.

It's actually more of a "decide whether dies at all" option, since if you save the old guy Nick escapes.

Huh, that's kind of cool. I still think in general the choice felt a little lazy and tacked-on, but the idea that there is actually a wrong choice sometimes (something The Wolf Among us also did) is super-neat.

Blackmailing Rebecca was such an un-Clementaine thing to do...

...

...but fuck it, I still did it. What a bitch.

I really liked the episode, even though the choices were a little bit silly.

Of course I am going to help my friend. Of course I'm gonna kill that dog. Well of COURSE I'm gonna be nice to the girl that can save my arm! Duh!

Clem's a hard ass motherfucker now, she is going to fuck. Shit. Up.

I liked this episode and by that I mean fuck everything. I played season 1 and 400 days and I still fall into that damn trap of being way too optimistic. The whole scene where Omid dies is so perfectly executed, what with the slow turning around, grabbing his chest, blood, collapse, Christa, shotgun and then she looks at the gun... And the way she treated Clem after that.

When I found the dog I totally thought that he was gonna tag along only to die a horribly heroic death in episode 5 or something. I'm dumb.

Does anyone else think that Luke looks like Pewdiepie? Can't look that guy in the face.

I didn't blackmail Rebecca. Didn't talk to her at all.

I took the watch. Not even out of adventure game habits but because I thought it could be useful. And immediately felt bad about it. This is going to bite me in the ass. I thought for a moment about replaying the episode but why cheat my way out of a depressing scene?

I "saved" Nick because Pete was obviously bit. Knowing now that Nick doesn't die if you save Pete is fucking with me right now.

I had a couple weird save import things. During the "Previously On" bit, it showed Lee sparing the brother in the barn when I definitely stabbed the shit out of him. Also later on when the guy was asking Clem about Lee, there was a dialogue option for "I killed him" even though my Clementine just left Lee there to die. Is that dialogue choice supposed to change?

Anyways, I thought the episode was great. The way the bit leading up to the dog bite played off my expectations was fantastic. I can't wait to see just how fucked up Sarah is in the head.

EDIT: Although I need to get used to reading Clem's dialogue options with a lot more sincerity, since I'm often picking to say things I didn't mean to say because in my mind I read them as a cynical ass grown man.

Walking Dead was 2nd in my 2012 GOTY. But I did not like this at all. It's a decent piece of cinema, the blocking and composition was excellent. But maybe I've changed to want more gameplay out of my games, but this felt even more railroady than last season. At least when the characters would do stupid things that I don't want them to do, I could argue that I'm just being roped along with the rest of my group; now it's my avatar making terrible decisions because thou must. And then you give my avatar shit about it and I can only agree with you. It's dumb that you made my avatar do that, I agree.

I really enjoyed it.
I was afraid I would be tagging along with Christa and Omid for a while and was pleasantly surprised when that didn't happen, I did "save" her though.

Sarah is my best friend and I chose Pete at the end. Everyone else can fuck off, I can take care of myself.

I thought it was excellent! Season One was my Game of the Year last year and this is off to a great start. Who else said, Still. Not. Bit.? That's such a great line I had to say it! And it felt so good blackmailing that pregnant chick.

I wonder if Matt Rorie will hate this episode...

You know what would have made the dog choice more effective? If it stopped trying to kill you after a certain point. As it stands, there's literally no way for the choice to not boil down to a rather mundane "Kill a dying animal" or "Leave a dying animal to die" thing. But what if, after mauling you, the dog just gives up and goes after the food. As Clem (understandably) goes to leave, the Dog starts following you again. You're given the choice; "Reject the Dog" or "Let the Dog come". If you reject the dog, it goes to attack you again and leads to the death cutscene. If you don't, you have a fairly vicious companion who has already tasted blood. Not only that, but that could extend to the bite investigation; "Oh shit, I killed the dog, now I have no proof it was a dog bite." / "Oh shit, I can't tell these guys that this bite was from the dog i'm with, they'll kill it".

That's the kind of choice system i'd be genuinely interested in; one that really stretches your sense of morality and what you think is the right thing to do, and in more ways that the (frankly tired) "Mercy vs Justice" "Save Person A or Save Person B" conundrum.

It's really strong to have this kind of baggage with a character. In the first season you play as Lee, watching out and guiding Clementine. While now, hey, you actually do the same thing. Without a character embodying me in the world, I noticed I was more conscious of myself, trying to (or hoping to) keep Clementine safe and with the right people.

It felt as if the concept of being her protector was now even closer to me, the player, than in season 1, when Lee was there to mediate our relationship.
I don't mean that in a good or a bad way, just a narrative feeling I observed.

On a whole other note, the moment the dog attacked had me saying out loud "WHAT THE FUCKING DOG!"
Goddamn, can't even trust a man's best friend?

I liked the episode, Fuck That DOGG

That dog WAS NOT COOL.

Saved Christa.

Killed that dog.

Accepted Nick's apology

Refused the water.

Saved Nick.

NO REGRETS.

Kind of really like how the dog thing played out because I by no means viewed the dog as some kind of cute follower. I was wary of it the second it showed up. And it acted just like I expected it to, after taking the can from it. It's not a pet anymore. You're a stranger, it's hungry, and it's slowly returning to its feral roots. Right away, when I clicked the can, I was like "fuck, I shouldn't have done that."

They hinted at Christa's pregnancy in season 1. It kind of disturbs me that they didn't go into what happened to her baby at all. Did she deliver it, and kill it? Miscarriage?

Who was the small grave for?

I like how they give you the option to burn Lees photo even though, in that instance, it's not necessary and I wouldn't ever do it. It's one of the things you have. You need to do what you need to do in order to survive. At some point you might have to make that decision. And I couldn't. It's still good that they give you the option to burn the log, don't get me wrong, it would certainly feel too "plastered on" if they didn't.

Same here. So far I don't feel like I've had to make any tough decisions at all. It's all been about looking after #1.
Also, Clem don't take shit from no one. I have been honest with everyone though. "What happened to the dog?" - I killed it. "What happened to Lee?" - I killed him. Fuck.

I'm surprised so many(?) people (70% when I finished it) gave water to the guy who could have been seconds away from turning into a zombie, who was also one of the people who attacked Christa. I just walked away. Same as with the guy who got bit right after that.

I doubt they'd program in a situation where "Oh no, we're one sip of water short!", and that water might have made the difference between getting or not getting information about Christa. After all, logic dictates he'd have been one of the last people to see her.

I have a dog that looks like the one in game. I had to stop playing for a while after killing it. I saved Christa, became friends with Sarah, I accepted Nick's apology, blackmailed the pregnant lady, refused the water, and saved Nick.

Great episode. I'm super excited for the rest of the season. I love how Clem can become a hard motherfucker.

That self-stitching scene was there mainly to be super fucked up and hard to watch and by god did it work. I had so much trouble watching that.

Man, they did not let up in this episode, did they? Barely any moments of peace from the second that girl walked into the bathroom, and even the quiet moments were undercut by mistrust.

I regret saving Nick knowing that they both could have lived (at least for a while), but hey, his uncle was bitten, and Nick looks like Kenny. The least I can do is save the guy who vaguely looks like the guy I wish I could have saved last season.

The dog thing was kinda pointless, though, except as a narrative way of saying "Remember, bites are really bad in zambie times, and that maaaaaay come up in a decision later! Wink wink! But for now, do you want to shave a couple of seconds off of this dog's suffering?". It just felt like a weak sequence in an otherwise great episode.

One other thing: Were the action sequences more difficult to anyone else? I was surprised to find myself dying a few times. (nice to see Clem's death sequences were reigned in a bit, by the way. I wasn't looking forward to seeing a little kid get torn apart in the ways Lee did in his death scenes)

I gave it to him just because I figured it was one of those "can't speak unless I wet me whistle, what with all the bleeding and dying I'm doing at the moment" deals.

Even with the knowledge that Nick gets away anyway, I'm still okay going to him. It's not really about Pete being bit or not, it's that after his story about Nick as a kid, and being so receptive to Clem acting strong and direct, that he would yell out to Clem and Nick, say he's fine, and to come help, despite very clearly being bit. He had to know it, so he was instantly ready to lie to us to save himself and possibly put us in danger.

Maybe I'm just rationalizing it more after doing it, but I think I saw that at the moment and turned away from him.

The one thing I do like is the other daughter, the teenager who still acts like a Kid.

Basically what I read into it is, rather than a simple 'shes autistic', is that her mental development halted the moment the outbreak happened because she had been coddled by her father whose only contribution to her growth as a human during these times was reassurance. Whereas Clem was in a situation where she was all alone and then introduced into a group who were constantly fighting and struggling and was taught to fend for herself in the heat of the moment before being all alone again... here we have 2 characters of similar age in the same situation but yet total opposites of each other, as well as adding to the whole older doesn't mean wiser, I really hope they play off this contrast well and don't revert to cliches.

I killed the fuck out of that asshole dog and I saved Pete because Nick had ammo and if he wasn't such a shit shot he could've shot better. Asshole. I think the best part of the episode for me was when I told the guy about the old group. Hearing Clem talk about how she killed Lee was rough. I wonder when the 400 Days crew is gonna show up. I liked some of those guys.

Also you're a god damn liar if you didn't pick the "Still. Not. Bitten." dialog after killing the zombie in the shed. A god damn LIAR.

Yeah, the moment when you were just talking about the past was probably my favorite bit as well.

And of course I picked that line! Haha, it was so perfect for the situation.

Seriously that's what I figured. Nick had a rifle with ammo, if he dies then fuck him that's his fault.

I figured breaking their barricade into the basement was going to end up poorly for everyone at the end of the episode.

Might of missed any signs but was their a time jump in between the opening title card and them tending the fire? Clementine sounds and looks older and Christa is no longer pregnant. I'm still playing this game so I'll check back a little later or I might find out later on.

"16 Months Later", so yeah.

haha totally missed that but I was also looking at my phone while it was scrolling by so...

Man, Rorie's gonna hate this game.

I'm really happy with this episode. It feels better then the last season to me. It looks really nice too. The two parts that stuck out to me were the dog part (fuck that by the way) and the opening in the bathroom. Both were handled really well.

I thought it was pretty solid. The framerate on ps3 was worse than last season, at least from what I remember, but the content was damn good. Really shocking. I hope they can hit the same highs as there were in previous episodes. There was a lot of really crazy stuff in this episode but I'm worried the decisions had more weight to them last season.

Hopefully it all builds as well as it did last time because it would be a shame if it turned into a Saw like experience where things are meant to gross you out more than make you feel something. The stuff I liked most about the first season was how emotionally involving it was.

Thought it was an ok start, but it didn't blow me away. The stitching scene went on for too long imo. After 1-2 stitches I got what they were going for and it was just tedious. Another couple tines of seeing her wince in pain didn't add anything to the event.

I was surprised at the dog bit. The dumb thing turned on a dime though and kind of came out of nowhere. I wish they had of had the dog start to growl and have a bit more of a build up to it rather then the dog just going insane at the drop of a hat and attacking me. I left it to suffer after it attacked me.

I went with Nick at the end since they made a point to show the older guy had been bitten so he was dead no matter what. I was then rather annoyed that there was no way to skip the coming up next thing at the end. I hate those things so much as they just spoil what's going to happen next so I literally had to just put my hands over my eyes and take off my head phones to avoid being spoiled. Then you couldn't skip the stupid credits on top of it and I didn't want to quit out and possibly not get my save.

Fuck me. I was a little disappointed by the length of this episode (or maybe just surprised by the fade to black,) but I fell for every emotional trap Telltale laid out in this one.

Some interesting bits of this episode that made an impact on me, with just-in-case spoiler tags:

• Clementine acting as guardian and guide for the dog
• The dog's instinctual betrayal
• Clementine encountering an innocent ("sheltered" might be a better word) mirror of herself
• Role-playing a child in an adult's world (convincing the group to let you live, being locked in the shed)
• Clementine being consulted as an adult on the well-being of another child
• Dealing with the pregnancy secret

I felt horrible for blackmailing the lady. It was my gut reaction and oh-so satisfying, but I immediately regretted my action and considered reloading. While I wished this episode were a little longer, or had a more satisfying denouement, as long as Telltale can serve up interesting moral choices I'm so in.

Just finished it, and oh my God those fucking stitches. Especially that last one.

Also, go Walking Dead S02E01 for passing the Bechdel Test! : )

@bigjeffrey said:

I liked the episode, Fuck That DOGG

Almost exactly the same except I killed the dog.

Half out of mercy and half out of "Fuck you, dog. Look what you DONE DID."

I favoured Nick at the end of the episode purely on the belief that Pete had been bitten. He would've agreed with my reasoning; sometimes you have to make the more bitter decision.

Did anyone go with Nick simply because his side of the river was back towards the house and Pete's side was deeper into the forest?

Telling the group "I didn't do it alone" when they asked were I got the bandages and stuff. The look on their faces, hah!

"Still Not Bitten" is the new cool guy thing to say. That was totally a cool guy moment. There is no way around this. If you didn't say Still Not Bitten; put frankly, friend, you fucked up.

Mean dog!

I can see the reasoning behind that, sure. Also like @lackingsaint said, it might've been a way to get information about Christa. But I have no regrets.

It also felt really good to "talk about it". Just to have it said. To have told someone. I'm also kind of glad that someone is the only person I like in the group. Even the "kid" upstairs creeps me out, sadly....

The black dude with glasses seems like a cool guy. He seemed pretty chill about letting you in the group.