Hey folks

Just beat episode one and was wondering what people were thinking about it so far? I'm gonna talk freely about spoilers so be warned. I really feel these kinda episodes should be cleared in one playthrough anyway like a movie.

Well I'm torn at how they used characters here. On one hand I really like the Riddler, always have even since the ol' Jim Carrey days. Seeing him elevated to some Saw-level mastermind was pretty great and I liked his hooded redesign. Was real nice seeing him back...which is why it's pretty awful they killed him off at the end of episode one. I was hoping we could build something with him like what we did with Harvey and Oswald in Season 1. Ugh a real favourite of mine reduced to a monster of the week, leaves a poor taste in the mouth.

I know they foretold it at the end of Season one but it was nice seeing John Doe again. At the end of the thing apparently my statistics said I made him hopeful? Honestly the whole bit about how he couldn't handle life on the outside was really pretty touching for me. I work in mental health so I'm a sucker for that kinda story. Knowing he's almost certainly going to be Joker means I know I'm probably setting myself up for a fall but I'll probably throw him a few bones in upcoming episodes.

Though really, what's plenty disappointing is the inclusion of Waller from Suicide Squad. Her whole thing has always just to be an unlikeable controlling person and the fact she's included in this just makes it feel like a shill to me. I mean....Suicide Squad didn't go down that well did it? Was there much demand for more of this character? Whatever the outcome I just wasn't interested in it, so when I see them sticking her in it I feel like they are just trying to sort-of drum up interest for their next movie. Plus the twist at the end where she knows your identity? Feels super cheap. My hunch is it's something to do with Lady Arkham getting away but man it's just a pain to think that of all the characters who get to stick around for future episodes it's her and not the Riddler. Ugh, game probably won't even let me punch her in the face like it did with Oz.

Yeah so overall leaving a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth with their choice of cast for this new season. I loathe Harley Quinn too but I've not seen how she's implemented here yet so maybe it'll be something a bit better than what I've grown to expect from her.

Oh also apparently I made Alfred Vengeful so uh....I need to chill him out or something.

I didn't even realize it was the same character from Suicide Squad. I guess I just blocked that movie from my memory.

I really like Telltale's tweaking of the dialogue system to tell you when your relationship has changed, and then telling you how-so at the end of the episode. I also ended up with a hopeful Joker and a vengeful Alfred, though I'm not entirely sure why. And that's my basic gripe with this episode in that all of my decisions seemed to have arbitrary and occasionally illogical outcomes, simply in the interest of giving the player "tough choices".

Do you want to lie to Lucius's daughter whom you've just met, or tell her the truth? How should I know? Her one cutscene prior to this was more about the drone she built than about her. But nope, all the game tells you about her is that she's good with electronics and that Lucius is proud of her. Good luck using that information to make the one decision that will determine what she thinks of you for the rest of the season.

Also, I really loved the ways that Season 1 played with and occasionally undermined and rewrote the Batman mythology, with Thomas Wayne having been a ruthless mob boss all along (which somehow Bruce was the last to learn about, but whatever). In Season 2, the twists on the Batman mythology are much more pedestrian and uninteresting. What if Batman and Gordon didn't get along so well? What if Riddler was Jigsaw from the Saw movies? What if Joker and Bruce Wayne were friends for some inexplicable reason? I hope they have some tricks up their sleeve later in the season story-wise, because this episode didn't do it for me.

Yeah I'll admit some of the choices were confusing in how they end up.

In the big final breakdown of how characters change, my Joker breakdown showed two orange choices and one blue choice which seemed to suggest these contributed to how he ended up "Hopeful" for me. Trouble is "Hopeful" was shown in blue and yet I'd made two orange choices which made me more confused. Were some decisions more weighted than others? It just seemed a bit confusing.

I do like how these changes are shown though and you can affect the mental state of other people. It reminded me of say...KOTORII or Dragon Age Origins wherein you could "Harden" the characters to affect their personalities and reactions later on.

Though I agree the introduction of Lucius' daughter did seem real clumsy and kinda awkward to work with. Feels artificial, like Lucius didn't need to die and only really did to introduce this new character and create tension through the season.

Huh, I didn't even notice it color-coded your choices like that, I'll have to go back and see.