Telltale's Walking Dead Season 2 (WARNING: UNMARKED SPOILERS)

[Kreekakon]

Hello everyone! I assume that most people have finished the Walking Dead Season 2 which ended a few days ago. I saw that some people were talking about it in the Random Thread, so I thought I'd make a dedicated thread for anyone who felt like talking about it some more.

Given that almost EVERY post which goes a bit deeper will have spoilers, I just thought we'll just remove the need for spoiler tags altogether in this thread for convenience, and just leave a warning in the thread title.

I'll start by talking a bit about what I thought. I probably won't go as in-depth as I usually do since I'm not feeling up to it currently.

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So personally I thought that Walking Dead Season 2 was an okay to good installment when compared to the first season. It is not bad, but definitely not up there with how good season 1 was.

The main issue I personally noticed lingering throughout the whole season was that it was difficult to get invested. In season 1, I constantly felt that everything that was happening was very tight, and things that I really felt like mattered to me, and cared about.

That feeling is not as strong in season 2. The best way to describe the feeling is that season 2 overall felt more "tame" to me.

In regards to what most people have been talking about in the Random Thread, which is regarding Kenny, and his eventually (possible) downfall, I have a bit of a different opinion on that one.

To me I definitely could see that Kenny was snapping quite a lot under all this pressure, and was getting extremely volatile. But I thought the story was still presented in such a way that I still couldn't hate him. I saw him as a troubled person who was having extreme difficulty controlling his emotions, but was still at core a good person underneath all that. That was a main thing that kept me siding with Kenny, and talking back against the other characters when they bad-mouthed him.

Again the simplest way to put it is that I thought of Kenny as someone that I was very disappointed/distasteful of the actions he was taking, but will still stand by him regardless because I know he's in actuality a better person who's lost his way.

However at the very, very end of the story, when Kenny, and Jane start fighting my distaste for Kenny reached its peak, and I was seriously considering killing Kenny at this point because I felt like he may have truly gone too far. In the end though I still decided that I wouldn't do it, because my hope of Kenny had not completely evaporated yet, and even if it meant Jane was going to die, I couldn't bring myself to do it.

In the very end though I was glad that I didn't do it, because Kenny's good nature seemed to shine through very strongly at the ending after the major choice, and I personally found the ending very touching, and I respected Kenny a lot for some of the things he said during it.

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That's all I'll be saying for now. I might post some thoughts on some of the things that happened in other episodes later, but that's it for now!

[i3670]

I felt that there was an overwhelming sense of a lack of a goal. Most of S1 was "Get to fucking Savannah, when in Savannah find Clem's parents." In S2 it was "Get to Wellington, but first join this group (who are not planning to go there), get out of the autocratic DIY-warehouse (because fuck autocracy), give birth to a baby (because when you are starving, make children). Holy shit we were supposed to go to Wellington!

[Froge]

This game really excels at eliciting heavy and choking emotions. Telltale's writing crew is very talented. They really nailed the depth and complexity of human interactions with the story in both seasons. Also, the body count. I think this game has a higher number of significant character deaths than game of thrones and attack on titan combined.

My opinion of why the first season was better is that the emotions and themes present in the storyline appeal stronger to human nature. If we were ever in a situation like this, I'd think what would keep us going is having someone to protect rather than just fending for ourselves. Lee teaching Clementine how to survive, protecting her from zombies, and finding and saving her in episodes 4 & 5 elicit a feeling almost similar to love, or maybe hope. At least for me.

I also thought season 1 felt more adventurous. The diverse environments, such as the cannibal house and the school, gave the player fresh settings to explore and varied challenges to overcome. There was also a lot of subtlety, like how you weren't really sure if getting bitten meant you were going to die, or what the bell-ringing guy in Savannah was up to. On the other hand season 2 felt a bit drawn out, and I thought episode four was particularly boring because it was just about Rebecca giving birth and I honestly didn't care much for her at that point. The only really interesting environment was episode 3, but it didn't last long at all. Also, because this whole season was about Clementine and her survival, the emotions weren't as strong as those in the first season - characters who died or disappeared just didn't mean as much. Finally, much like AAMFP was to ATDD, Season 2 was really shorter gameplay wise by like three to four hours.

That said, after the bar that was set by the ending to Season 1 (still the last time that I've teared up for a game that I can remember), we expected a fantastic sequel and Telltale delivered. Season 2 had great storytelling, memorable characters, and intense moments. Maybe not as many 'choose-this-character-or-that' as I seriously can't remember anything other than Jane or Kenny. The subtlety was still there, but mainly in episode 2 (A House Divided) when you found Kenny up on the cottage and you knew something was going to go bad. Aside from the points that I've already mentioned, I thought that another reason why Season 2 might have dragged on is the fact that it really didn't introduce anything new to the formula. At least it didn't take away from the formula, like AAMFP did. But it really was a very intense and emotionally powerful slog through dozens of dead characters as Clementine tries her best to survive.

One thing that surprised me about this season was how varied the endings are compared to season 1's simplistic shoot Lee or spare Lee. I'm not sure how Telltale is going to wrap things up from here on out. I'm also shocked at how different the emotional texture is when you go with Kenny instead of Jane. The Kenny endings are bittersweet but satisfying, saturated with the powerful feeling of two people who really understand each other. The Jane endings, on the other hand, leave a bad taste in my mouth. Back at Carver's, choosing to let the family in makes me feel insecure, while telling them to leave makes me feel cruel. The bond between Clementine and Jane just isn't as strong, and understandably so, because Kenny and Clementine were together since the start of season 1. And the Alone ending is just depressing. Clementine is a strong girl, but I feel like she will soon approach her limit.

Overall I would give Season 1 a 9.5/10 and Season 2 an 8/10.