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Walking Dead S3: A New Frontier Ep 1/2 SPOILER THREAD

Vampire On Titus

Vampire On Titus

Member
Just finished the last episode. This whole season has been a mess since episode 3. Muddled character motivations out the ass. Also, never in a Walking Dead game did I find such a lack of dialog options that properly captured what I wanted to say. The overall decline in anything resembling interactivity/ adventuring. It's gotten to the point that any time the game gives me control over anything I'm just thinking "why the fuck are you even bothering with this?"

Them even remotely trying to make David a redeemable character you want to mend relations with is a total joke. Even Clem did a last minute 180 degree flip on him in a last ditch effort to make it seem like it was a choice worth mulling over at all. The whole game it's "fuck that guy" "I told you about how he was" now all of a sudden in the last episode, after an emotional flashback, she's got some good shit to say. The entire episode everyone is jerkily flip flopping between having always hated him and telling you that you should try to make it work. I was rolling my eyes throughout.

There's so many emotional sequences in the final episode that are completely unearned. Also Kate's sudden attachment to Richmond is forced as fuck even if she did crash the car.
 
T

Turkoop

Banned
Just finished the third season, and overall it was O.K

Really Telltale, this is a step backwards. I had the feeling of less decisions to make, okay you introduced a lot of characters, some were looking fucking bad. Like Kate, how old is she?! Her son is around 14 and she looks like 24. WTF Telltale.
The whole season was too fast for me, you could go more into the details and the part with Joana was annoying af.

Javier was okay designed and I really loved Clem. But I wish more decisions to choose, if you're not improving your engine ( I had 2 crashes) you should invest more into story, characters and decisions.
 
D

Dram

Member
Turkoop said:
Really Telltale, this is a step forward. I had the feeling of less decisions to make, okay you introduced a lot of characters, some were looking fucking bad. Like Kate, how old is she?! Her son is around 14 and she looks like 24. WTF Telltale.
Click to expand...
Kate was the step-mom to the kids, so she could be a lot younger than her husband.
 
N

Nielm

Member
I've watched someone else play it, I haven't played it. I did play Season 1 twice and Season 2 though.

To me, it seems to lack direction. Season 1 had amazing direction, it knew exactly where it was going and how it would end. Season 2 dropped in quality a bit, but it was still strong.

Season 3 just lacks what 1 and 2 had. In 2 you had Kenny of course, and an interesting villain. The development of Clementine in Season 2 and how it ended was great.

This season's characters aren't particulary interesting. The way it ended made me feel like it was a 'filler' season.
 
MulderYuffie

MulderYuffie

Member
I overall enjoyed the season nowhere near Season 1 &2 though. It kind of fell flat there for me in the like mid episode 2 through episode 3 but I did like how this season focused on the characters Javi's family and the flashbacks especially which really helped add to the eventual ending(s) and how how people didn't just die left and right like in season 1&2 it was a breathe of fresh air even if it felt off compared to those two seasons at times. I really wish Clem would've stayed out of this game and it sucks to see her plot won't be wrapped up until the DLC. Hopefully Season 4 starts from scratch with a whole new cast hell drop us in another country let's see how the rest of the world is dealing with things.
 
B

bjork

Member
Yesterday I went, "I wonder when a new Walking Dead episode comes out?" Episode 3 was the last one I'd played, so I played 4 and 5 back-to-back today. I feel like I keep up with things in gaming, but did these get zero press? I saw nothing until I specifically googled for it.

Anyway, I have to say that the most exciting thing about it was the teaser at the end. Every episode of this season, I played it like I've played the series thus far: Clementine over everyone else. The S3 style of pre-outbreak flashbacks was a cool way to fill in gaps in this family's backstory, but I just kinda didn't like any of them including Javi, so it made it feel less important when it came to decisions. In the end,
David died, Gabe shot him, Kate went missing forever, and they somehow had polaroids of all these people. Clem went to find AJ and left with a wave, leaving Gabe hanging like the turd he is.

Some stuff had me puzzled as far as the rationale. I get that they wanted to push this Gabe/Clem bonding thing, and they needed to have a place to resolve Kate's feelings. But why was
"we stole this truck and we're driving it through the town where there are people with guns actively looking for us so let's just stop on a random street in town for a chat" the ideal solution? It was pretty long, too. If I was a guy with a gun and suddenly heard a truck, blam.

I'm still really puzzled by the photos too. Where did they come from and why are they all identical? Who was carrying these all this time? Was there no better way to have a memorial?

Overall, I think it was worth seeing just to get more of Clem's story, but I hope the next outing either has a new engine or they take longer to put episodes out. On Xbox One I had *a lot* of technical hiccups. I don't mind some, there were fewer fully textured walkers than there were blurry ones for me, to the point of being distracting. Stuff was blinking into existence out of nowhere during scenes, there were some long hang-ups in loads between scenes, etc. It all feels like stuff that could be smoothed out with a little more prep time, which I'm honestly okay in waiting for.

My Clementine is a Free Spirit, but I didn't make the account to import all of my choices, so I'm not sure how picking them before episode 1 impacted that. Still, she seems level-headed and independent, which is all Lee would've wanted.
 
T

Turkoop

Banned
Telltale's TWD without Clem makes no sense, Telltale created one of the most unforgettable videogame characters ever and they should build on it.
A season 4 with a grown up Clem is perfect, A New Frontier was kinda a spinoff or filler.
 
M

Manu

Member
The only reason Clem is older in this game is because they're catching up to the comic timeline, they're not going to pass it. Don't forget the game is supposed to be canon (despite the highly contrived cameos from comic characters.)
 
Z

Zolo

Member
Manu said:
Sigh. What a wet fart of an ending. I actually enjoyed most of the episode and then the final scene is Clem leaving and... that's it? No resolution at all for Javi, save for his little bit of dialogue with
Jesus
at the end.
Click to expand...

For those interested, a dev confirmed Javier was bi as well.
 
D

Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
Finished up the final episode today. Still liked it a lot, but agree with the consensus that it wasn't as good as the first two seasons. Ending was pretty anti-climatic as well after the final scene with David.
 
Vampire On Titus

Vampire On Titus

Member
Manu said:
Please no.

The comic cameos have been the weakest part of the stories.
Click to expand...

They legit brought Jesus in the mix for nothing. He does nothing important in this season and I feel like if I didn't read the comic how much reverence they give him would make no sense.

This season really made me think about how good Lee, Kenny and the original cast were. An ex con who killed a man in a crime of passion is way more interesting than a disgraced base-ball player with family issues. Honestly how they tried to use baseball as an analogy so often in this game was cringey as fuck imo.

Like, at the end, when
Clem goes "you liked baseball a lot right? how did you go on without it" comparing that to losing AJ. The one hope she had left, a symbol for a fresh start in a completely ruined world.
Super corny, by the end of the game even Clem got infected by the sub par writing. I still have high hopes for a continuation of a Clem based story. She consistently had the best moments of this season and the Clem focused flash-backs were my personal highlight for the game.

It'd be cool if telltale got over their allergic reaction to any type of actual adventuring or puzzle solving game-play, too. At least batman had the dummy version of that Miles Edgeworth mechanic where you connect clues at the scene of the crime. A little something to make it feel like you're an actual participant on this journey would be nice.
 
R

Razmos

Member
EchosMyron said:
There's that hella awkward two seconds at the end of Ep 5 where you can flirt with Jesus I guess?
Click to expand...
Its something I guess.

I can't believe I had to put up with Kate when Javier could have been having some man action, eurgh.

I was really hoping there would be some sort of flirty exchange between Javier and Jesus before Jesus disappeared, like maybe just Jesus mentioning that Javier was hot or something, but he just kinda left.

That's how you deal with bi characters, give them a forced heterosexual relationship throughout (that I disliked) and then just subtly hint they might be bi.

It bugs me that they had a Bi lead in a game about making your own choices and forced you into a heterosexual relationship. Goddamn.
 
H

hydrophilic attack

Member
Razmos said:
Its something I guess.

I can't believe I had to put up with Kate when Javier could have been having some man action, eurgh.

I was really hoping there would be some sort of flirty exchange between Javier and Jesus before Jesus disappeared, like maybe just Jesus mentioning that Javier was hot or something, but he just kinda left.

That's how you deal with bi characters, give them a forced heterosexual relationship throughout (that I disliked) and then just subtly hint they might be bi.

It bugs me that they had a Bi lead in a game about making your own choices and forced you into a heterosexual relationship. Goddamn.
Click to expand...

I read the final scene between them as very flirty.

And what happens if you rebuff Kate's advances? The game gave you plenty of chances to do that, but maybe it didn't really affect their relationship in the end?
 
B

benicillin

Banned
I wonder how far ahead the next season is going to jump. If I had to guess probably just a few weeks or months. Because it's treated as being in the comic timeline I doubt kirkman would let them go ahead of him, so Clem has a max age of like 14 or 15.
 
R

Razmos

Member
hydrophilic attack said:
I read the final scene between them as very flirty.

And what happens if you rebuff Kate's advances? The game gave you plenty of chances to do that, but maybe it didn't really affect their relationship in the end?
Click to expand...
Oh I meant in the episodes where he appeared previously.

And yeah, you can reject Kate (and I did) but I'm sure it's implied that Kate and Javi have hooked up while on the road prior to the start of the season which contributes towards her feelings for him.
And the game just doesn't really let up with their relationship, it comes up a lot even if you reject it every time
 
L

Linkark07

Banned
I agree with the general consensus: I feel this season was filler too. But I still enjoyed it. I liked Javier and most of his team.

As for me, I went to save Richmond with Kate. Thankfully, Clem went with both of them. So I didn't see when David died and Javi found Gabriel almost dead. Not regretting my choice, I really disliked Gabriel.

I assume there are scenarios in which Kate and Gabriel survive, but I am not interested in finding them out.

As for my Clem, she finished as a Survival Warrior.
 
T

TheYanger

Member
Razmos said:
Oh I meant in the episodes where he appeared previously.

And yeah, you can reject Kate (and I did) but I'm sure it's implied that Kate and Javi have hooked up while on the road prior to the start of the season which contributes towards her feelings for him.
And the game just doesn't really let up with their relationship, it comes up a lot even if you reject it every time
Click to expand...

I mean, so what?

Every telltale game or narrative based game has a lot of narrative baggage going in to the situation, and only certain choices based on it. For all we know Lee was bisexual, does that retroactively make you go 'oh, why didn't they let me explore that?' - it wasn't relevant to the story being told,, that's it, it's not a negative towards the thing they didn't explore.

I guess I just don't get why this seems especially irritating compared to literally every other narrative decision that is largely made for you. It would always be nice to see more representation, but a telltale game isn't where I'd expect it to be put in in the form of a choice like that.
 
C

cyba89

Member
Did not like this season much. Probably my least favorite post-TWD Telltale game so far (played everything except Minecraft).

It's annoying that these episodes are so short now. They barely leave any room for character development and only tell the necessary parts making supposedly emotional moments completely empty. Compare how much you learned from the Season 1 cast and how much you cared about them to how much you actually care about the Season 3 cast. The difference is night and day for me.

I never complained much about how your decisions have little impact in Telltale because I think you should only play through them once, but I have a problem with it when it becomes so obvious (that was already a problem in the GoT game for me).
There could have been an interesting dynamic between Javi an the character you save/don't save at the end of episode 4, but then the one get killed at the beginning of Ep5 anyway. Tripp was the one who did not get shot at the end of Ep4 for me and in Ep5 he had like two lines of dialogue with Javi saying everything was fine. That's completely pointless.
 
A

AlimNassor

Banned
I liked that they attempted to make Clem more in line with how her age is. It got annoying how in S2 she did not act her age and seemed way more mature. That final shot was Clem regaining her youth or hope.

I didn't like Gabe but, he is needed to help develop Clem. Allow her to act her age to be human instead of stoic.
 
T

Taruranto

Member
At episode 3. Man, I'm not really feeling this.

In theory it should be better than S2, there is a focus on a core cast and a direction, but I can't seem to give a shiet about any of these character other than Clem. I guess I liked the female doc and Jesus, but they have no screentime basically.

But really, is there even a meaningful choice in this episode? This felt more on-rails than usual.
 
S

Saint of Killers

Member
I cannot recall the last time I gave less of a shit about so many characters. That even includes Clem : ( On the plus side I'm on the final ep and will be able to move on to play other, more interesting games.
 
Vampire On Titus

Vampire On Titus

Member
Taruranto said:
At episode 3. Man, I'm not really feeling this.

In theory it should be better than S2, there is a focus on a core cast and a direction, but I can't seem to give a shiet about any of these character other than Clem. I guess I liked the female doc and Jesus, but they have no screentime basically.

But really, is there even a meaningful choice in this episode? This felt more on-rail than usual.
Click to expand...

Jesus is such a cool character in the comics too... I don't know what they were thinking bringing him into this Season for such a bit part.
 
S

snakey chook

Neo Member
Just finished episode 1 and whilst being initially intrigued, I'm already rolling my eyes at the story.
That 'shock' moment at the end of the episode where the kid gets shot was predictable and lazy. I'm a bit sick of being force fed nihilism.

I adored Season 1 and was 'meh' on Season 2. Should I stop now? I've got a lot of other good games to spend my time with.
 
S

Saint of Killers

Member
snakey chook said:
Just finished episode 1 and whilst being initially intrigued, I'm already rolling my eyes at the story.
That 'shock' moment at the end of the episode where the kid gets shot was predictable and lazy. I'm a bit sick of being force fed nihilism.

I adored Season 1 and was 'meh' on Season 2. Should I stop now? I've got a lot of other good games to spend my time with.
Click to expand...

I finished it yesterday and found that ep 5 was the least awful ep of the lot. By quite some distance. So yeah, I'd recommend you move on to something else.

Unless I read it wrong, the next season is supposed to be the last one/Clementine's last. If Telltale have any sense, and going by this it's debatable, they'll keep the focus tightly on Clem.
 
Z

zeemumu

Member
I finished the story in the good graces of virtually every character
(except David when I told him about me and Kate). Tripp forgave me despite me choosing Ava (originally chose Tripp the first time through that episode), forgave Eleanor, didn't fight David, Gabe thinks I'm a cool guy, Clem trusts me. All worked out great
, so in terms of where the characters are in the story I think that's the most positive ending I've had of any of the Walking Dead games bar none.

Tripp really surprised me as a character. Despite how many times I pissed him off or had to deal with him when someone else pissed him off, by the end of it he seemed to understand that all of my decisions were difficult calls. I really thought he'd end up another Kenny.
I don't think he's dead. We didn't see a body.

I actually really liked this ending. My Clemetine ended up
A Renewed Soul
, and according to the stuff on the list part of it has to do with how season 2 ended.

So the final season's probably gonna end up with
Joan as a major villain or Christa returning or something. We'll probably find out what happened to Tripp (or Ava if you save her instead, I guess)

bjork said:
My Clementine is a Free Spirit, but I didn't make the account to import all of my choices, so I'm not sure how picking them before episode 1 impacted that. Still, she seems level-headed and independent, which is all Lee would've wanted.
Click to expand...

Your season 2 choices impact certain actions and dialogue (
she only shoots David in the arm if you shot Kenny and who you ended up with at the end of season 2 changes her goodbye to Gabe if you went after Kate and Clem came with you
) and the flashback stuff. From what I can tell from reading the other choices, the indication that your Clem is level-headed is
if she opts to split up and help whoever you don't choose when you have to either go after Gabe and David or help Kate
, and from the picture you linked it looks like you got that one.

Taruranto said:
At episode 3. Man, I'm not really feeling this.

In theory it should be better than S2, there is a focus on a core cast and a direction, but I can't seem to give a shiet about any of these character other than Clem. I guess I liked the female doc and Jesus, but they have no screentime basically.

But really, is there even a meaningful choice in this episode? This felt more on-rail than usual.
Click to expand...

Quite a few, surprisingly.

End of game spoilers
David Kate and Gabe's fates are determined by your interactions with both them and Clem (and what Clem does in some of the flashbacks). Either Clem goes with you and you can save both David and Gabe but Kate dies, or you can go with Kate and David dies and Gabe gets bitten and you have the choice to give him the gun or shoot him yourself, or if you and Clem split up, you can save Gabe and Kate disappears or you can help Kate and Clem saves Gabe. Or she does her own thing and chooses who to go with herself regardless of who you pick.

Also I found out that Conrad can apparently survive the entire thing all the way to the end. I found that pretty surprising. Determinant characters have a habit of either getting killed later or disappearing from the plot entirely, but if you don't kill him then you can let him get revenge on Badger, save you if you fail the truck dodge QTE, and talk to him at the end of the game
 
T

Taruranto

Member
Done with this. Man, I couldn't give less of a shit about these characters. At one point I literally started to select options that would have made situations more chaotic for the lulz.

I think I'm pretty much done with TWD, unless they announce something like the return of the original writers not even Clementine can save this for me.

http://webm.land/media/4DUv.webm

This was funny tho'.
 
T

TimeEffect

Member
Taruranto said:
Done with this. Man, I couldn't give less of a shit about these characters. At one point I literally started to select options that would have made situation more chaotic for the lulz.

I think I'm pretty much done with TWD, unless they announce something like the return of the original writers not even Clementine can save this for me.

http://webm.land/media/4DUv.webm

This was funny tho'.
Click to expand...

I think the next season was supposed to be the last, starring Clementine
 
xrnzaaas

xrnzaaas

Member
I just finished the season and my thoughts about it are mostly negative. I'd be okay with Clementine stepping down a bit for this season if only I cared about the new family. They acted like dumbasses (since the end of episode 1 when they started running around like headless chickens) and even the flashbacks didn't help character development that much (also Clementine's flashbacks were a cheap way to tie things up with what happened in season 2). The only character that I was intrigued with was Ava, but I got her killed so that's that. Also I didn't like how fate brought back David and Javi again, even the characters kept commenting how much of a coincidence it was lol. I still plan on playing the final season but they need to step it up.
 
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