dezvous

@hbkdx12: I didn't try everything. I'm the kind of person who will only ever play this game once unless forced to by dying and restarting at a checkpoint or something so I couldn't tell you about the threatening option or the other one.

But yeah, I chose the "reason with him" option and it gets to the point where there's nothing left to do or say but act. Your two choices being, either wait for him to shoot you in the face or "calmly take the gun away from him." So not much of a choice. I don't see how anyone could effectively threaten a person when they're being held at gun point anyways hahah.

I really don't want to be so harsh, I still really like the game, but it does seem like this is the first episode where these issues are cropping up. I haven't had anything to complain about from the previous episodes. I'm sure I could find something in the previous ones but in episode 4 it just felt as if they were happening around every corner.

I also feel like a main problem with this episode is they simply tried to do too much. I could be wrong because I'm not breaking down the other episodes, but I feel like more happened in this episode than in the last 3. As far as going to new places, meeting new people, happening upon game changing information. There was just so much going on and I feel like that hampered a lot of this. It could have easily been broken up into 2 episodes and fleshed out better. It felt rushed and lacking in polish.

One other thing. This one really bothered me.

How many of you died when Vernon pointed the gun in your face?

So the only option to get out of that situation alive is to "calmly take the gun?" What kind of madness is that!? You see that in movies all the time, but I don't think that bullshit works. That's not something I would EVER do in real life. For a number of reasons, if that person was scared they would be likely to shoot you as soon as you made any forward progress towards them. I know this is a video game but I feel like this game has been so realistic within the confines of it's decidedly unrealistic zombie premise. Things were never theatrical for the sake of being theatrical.

Here's my real problem with it though. So you're telling me that if I don't take the gun from this guy, he shoots me in the head without hesitation? That doesn't add up. Apparently this same guy that will shoot you in the face and end your life will LET you calmly take the gun out of his hands.

No way, someone willing to let you take the gun from them is obviously not looking to kill you. They would sooner let the gun down themselves than shoot you. That's why I didn't calmly take the gun away from him the first time and I was upset that the only option was to calmly take it from him.

It didn't seem like Vernon pulling the trigger when I got killed. Instead it seemed like the curtain was pulled back and I could see the developers forcing his hand so that to resolve the situation I had to make the cinematic move and "calmly take the gun away from him." It seemed like the kind of situation where the end result is the same no matter the action taken, or he shoots you when you go for the gun or he moves back more or something.

@hbkdx12: Yeah, it's a real shame. I remember picking up on those too.

Especially the one about how he so conveniently got back to the school from the car shop the second time. I'm guessing he climbed over the downed fence and went around, but still, this hasn't be a game to cut corners until this episode. They should have showed him quickly navigating around the corner with little to no zombies. I mean after all, a lot had moved over and into the school itself at this point. It still should have been shown instead cutting to a load screen.

@Funkydupe: And I feel like that is what has been so great about this game so far.

Whenever you were thrown into a sticky situation, you already knew your surroundings and knew your options in most cases. You already knew your choice before it even presented you with them. When I saw him struggling to get up to fire escape, I remembered the dumpster only steps away from him. In my head, I already knew what I was going to do, use the dumpster to get up to higher ground. So when I saw the circular indicator over the dumpster, I'm like yep, here we go. Only to have him easily push it aside and end up going into the sewers?!

I've said this many times, but I really want to hammer it home. This disappointment stems from just how nearly perfect this game has been up until this point. It's still not a bad game but I can't remember any other inconsistencies that stick out in my mind from previous episodes. Not as glaring as some of these. Maybe in previous episodes there were some, but none that so drastically altered the outcome of the stories events.

This was the first episode I wanted to even talk to anyone about it on forums because I was interested in seeing if I was the only one who was also disappointed for the first time. This was the first time where I felt like they seemed really desperate in making things happen, it felt rushed.

@CommanderZx2: I'm not going to be that person that so quickly jumps on Gary's back about this. We don't know what was up to him. As many have pointed out, an overall narrative was determined at the beginning of this project. I'm not going to start singling people out. Especially with no proper facts to back it up.

@Funkydupe said:

It doesn't seem far fetched for someone to surrender to physical and mental fatigue by just drifting into heavy sleep.

Again, really doesn't make it seem like any less of a cheap way to get to where you want to go. Again, compared to everything that has happened up to this point.

@CommanderZx2: I don't know what to think. All I know is that apparently I fell asleep and didn't wake up for anything. How do you not wake up in a completely silent house? There's no music or even much ambient noise going on. You would be alerted to just about anything. I'm sure it's hard to ever get a good nights sleep. Let alone a little nap.

It doesn't change just how poor of a story contrivance it is. Especially compared to the rest of the series.

@TheHumanDove said:

I don't get why episode 4 is getting so much hate. I thought it was one of the best so far.

Really? Getting bitten and losing clem weren't holy shit moments? And how dare you lose emotional connection to Clem!!!

I think the problem here is that these moments did not feel organic or realistic unlike the other big moments in previous episodes. They felt extremely forced, and not forced by the chaotic world that you play in but forced in a really desperate way to make the story more dramatic by the games creators.

I slept through the little girl I'm protecting getting kidnapped from the same room and everyone else in the house leaving? Really? Well that's just cheap and incredibly lame.

Also, I had to move a dumpster so I could go through the sewers? You mean instead of just stand on the dumpster and get way more of a height advantage than was even necessary, making it extremely easy for me to climb up and join the rest of the group on the roof?

All of this could have still happened, it's the way that they made it happen that just felt completely artificial. It's a shame because I haven't felt that way about any of the other episodes up until now.

I was disappointed with this one. It was all over the place. The first episode where I really felt like logic took a back seat and that's what I think this series had going for it so well. Even during the extremely difficult situations, they presented you with all the logical options. Not here.

When I walked up to the dumpster and pushed it out of the way instead of climbing on top of it, that was the first thing that really bothered me. A lot of the tension seemed artificial because I would simply never do that and I don't think most of us would. Lee is a completely capable guy, climbing on that dumpster would have solved his issue perfectly.

There were just a lack of options, instead they forced you to do things when there were clearly better alternatives. Also, how does Ben act like he just happened upon the very same axe that he handed to me? That's just stupid.

And seriously, Lee sleeps through all of that at the end? Just disappointing. There were some high points, like finding out you're about to embark and a fun little sneaking mission, but then that had it's share of nonsense in it too.

Edit: Seeing you guys jump on Gary seems really silly though. It's hard to say what he is actually responsible for anyway, but specifically calling him out as not being a good writer. Come on guys.

I don't know. You guys all talk about yelling in this situation but I think most of us would be filled with a constant fear that would keep most of us quiet.

Besides, I think that certain kind of quiet angry can be even more intimidating than yelling. Through gritted teeth etc.

I understand tempers flare, but it's like these people never stop yelling.