The Walking Dead

[Anian]

I'm up to the point just returned from trying to save the bitten girl from the zombies at her door.

Spoiler

She asked the reporter for the gun, I failed to reply fast enough, we dropped down one floor and in the end she got the gun and shot herself.
Is there any way to make her go back inside without killing herself at once?

[close]

The point of the scene is the shock and choice between

Spoiler

shooting her yourself or let her shoot or try to avoid it...then you fail to avoid it. I must admit I didn't expect her to be bitten before the actual conversation in front of the door, really caught me by surprise, but then of course things go their predictable way.

[close]

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

If there was some kind of proper fighting system in the game they would get totally slaughtered for it.

This is the sort of thing I take exception to.  Why would a proper fighting system get them 'totally slaughtered'?  It's a survival horror game for shits' sake.  You don't play a zombie survival game based on a hit comic about people fighting zombies (and each other) and being in danger of dying at just about any second and demand there be no real combat gameplay...That's just utterly stupid!

And I'm not saying you are stupid, Grim, I'm saying people who think there's no place for combat in a game about the zombie apocalypse are completely and utterly stupid.

If you want to play a game with no combat or action, fine.  I totally understand that.  But don't take a genre absolutely synonymous with bloody, brutal survival and strip it down to a rapid-fire mash festival, it's just ri-damn-diculous, and what's worse, those sequences are completely unrewarding on any real level and make most players feel like they're just operating an interactive cutscene -- which, honestly, is the only purpose for such events that I find even remotely tolerable (ie, add the bash face cutscene in AFTER I've beaten the piss out of the zombie!).

This game is a perfect example of why I can't stand Telltale's approach to gaming.  Look at the entire motel sequence.  Instead of allowing you to freely move (as you can in the pharmacy, for example) and creep on your own, you're forced to choose between click left or click right.  This is just shit and shows how intellectually lazy the designers were.  I refuse to believe they removed direct control in situations like that because people would complain about being able to creep all around the map examining shit and getting killed for being stupid.  It's not there because it was easier to turn everything into a cutscene, its that simple (no need for AI, no need for solutions the designer's didn't consider, and so on).

[Ryan Timothy B]

I haven't played this game nor have I seen the trailers. I did however see the trailers for the Jurassic Park game and that looked absolutely terrible. Who would be interested in something like that?

Anyway, I enjoy the tv show. It's a little slow at times and the character development is a little awkward. How they randomly change to a completely different person from one episode to another. It's almost as bad as that Merlin tv show in that aspect.

I'll tell you what game I would be interested in playing. A game with Left 4 Dead's zombie spawning and attack/swarm style and Fallout 3 type of RPG elements. Mixed with the storyline of something like the Walking Dead, and I would be in love. I'm surprised it hasn't been done yet.

Exploring cities and towns that are filled with chaos, zombies and such. People eating people or trying to hunt you for food. Zombies attacking you. It would be fantastic. And if were mixed with a GTA style driving and physics as well, where you could drive any car that isn't damaged. Having to scavenge for fuel. Modding up the car with a ram, or putting bars on the windows. Filling the car with gear. Guns, ammo, food.

Someone needs to make that game. Now.

[Grim]

  It's a survival horror game for shits' sake. 

You see, I don't think it is! It's some strange hybrid, a horror for sure, but not the kind of horror in which you have to make bullets and healthpacks last... If you are reluctant to call it an andventure game, I will happily settle for the term "interactive story". It's  not for everyone, it's at times quite simplistic, and it is definitely a console game... but how can I explain that I've had so mych fun with it and can't wait for part 2? I've been a keen gamer all my life, and I can tell a shit game from a good game. I've murdered thousands of zombies, great deal of them with a frying pan;) But it just worked for me, and more- I felt like posting here and praising it up to this community. I don't normally do that!

   I guess you can't have it all in one game. It'd be awesome to play a game Ryan descibes... But I don't think it's gonna happen any time soon. Sometimes it's all down to our expectations. If you get all hyped up for something it might then let you down too easily...

  One more thing- while other Tellatale games have terrible graphics imo, The Walking Dead and its sketchy/pencil drawn textures rock! I think the game looks absolutely fantastic!:)

[Anian]

   I guess you can't have it all in one game. It'd be awesome to play a game Ryan descibes... But I don't think it's gonna happen any time soon. Sometimes it's all down to our expectations. If you get all hyped up for something it might then let you down too easily...

  One more thing- while other Tellatale games have terrible graphics imo, The Walking Dead and its sketchy/pencil drawn textures rock! I think the game looks absolutely fantastic!:)

Wasn't Dead Island sort of the described all-in-one game, in concept at least? Salvaging weapons, fighting people as well as zombies etc. On a similar note, the AGS Steam group might schedule a L4D2 game more often.

And yes, TT really made the graphic style work in this game, but from 3d model point of view I think it's the same modelling style and level of detail they have in all their other games.

2nd episode should be coming next week if the promised release schedule is kept. They do keep this information kind of hard to actually find, probably to not seem too tardy if the release is late.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

It'd be awesome to play a game Ryan descibes..

This I agree on! ^_^

Wasn't Dead Island sort of the described all-in-one game, in concept at least?

I think Dead Island got a lot of things right when it came to the zombie infestation and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Some of the things where I think they floundered though were the fps combat mechanics that would have been better suited for third person, the setting didn't really appeal to hardcore genre fans, and none of the player characters were particularly interesting or likeable.

I definitely think their plans for 'Dead World' will satisfy the needs of people like Ryan who want to scrounge through cities for food and weapons, though I'm worried they're going to use the same four horrible protagonists.  Seriously, even Ryder White was more charismatic (if you played the DLC). 

I think The Walking Dead would have been more faithfully served as a game closer to Dead Island than Telltale's approach, in any event.

I do agree the cartoon cell-shading covers up the typical shortcomings of Telltale's graphic engine, though!

[Eric]

It's a little slow at times and the character development is a little awkward. How they randomly change to a completely different person from one episode to another.

I've only seen the first episode of the TV show, but the comic is the same way. The writer has admitted he's winging it from issue to issue, and despite the popularity of the book, I think it shows, so I gave up on it. One issue, the old man would be accusing the sheriff of leading everyone into disaster, the next he'd be berating others for not following the sheriff loyally. Plus, I found Black Lady Ninja a fairly shallow character, an anti-cliche that somehow still played to stereotypes.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Also with the game I was describing, having the goal to get from, let's say, New York to LA with a much much smaller scale. Something in a fictional universe would be best though, with boundaries like oceans, large rivers, or damaged bridges. Maybe something similar to the Florida Keys would be best. Which would be easiest to limit you to certain areas without the need for imaginary walls, and the overall atmosphere of the Keys is amazing for a zombie apocalypse. With maybe more of a city element in a few of the small islands with a couple skyscrapers (without the ability to go to every single floor - perhaps the stairs are demolished after a couple floors and of course no power to the elevators). Some houses and such have power as they run generators. If you shut off/damage the generator the people who live there come out to fight.

Being at least 10 years into future after the world is consumed with the zombie virus, but zombies still exist because they don't eat only flesh like you see in traditional stories. They eat everything.

Then with an optional multiplayer friend (or a few friends) would be best. You could both go wandering off in your own path, or stick together. Helping each other in battle, or you searching one side of a street while your buddy searches the other. Challenging each other at finding the best gear or valuables. Also both having your own cars and racing along the bridges connecting the islands or maneuvering through towns. Side swipe your friend's car into an abandoned car or wreck. lol

That's the only reason why I wouldn't want cars because once people get into one and have plenty of gas, you'd constantly have to get in and out, so you'd likely just want to keep driving without stopping. It's a tough call, because I would personally want a car in that game. I wouldn't explore EVERY single house, but I would definitely look.

It should be something like Fallout 3 though, where it's not suburbian hell and there's just a cluster fuck of houses with no hope in hell to search through them all. But with houses that have burnt down, demolished, fell over, boarded up tight (secret entrances). A country side with farms and such would be the best design for a game with cars.

[Anian]

Episode 2 now on xbox and on friday pc and ps3. It was about freaking time.

They also posted stats and choices players made all together (they also show the outcome of the highest %) WARNING-PLENTY OF SPOILERS, so don't watch unless you played through the 1st episode
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0jYm5zVyc4


p.s. hope I'm not breaking any forum rules by posting here, but blame Telltale for the delay 

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

A game more like you're describing called Dead State is up on kickstarter right now, Ryan.  It's isometric view but all about survival and moving around and gathering supplies and allies while fighting off the undead.

[Grim]

Episode 2 now on xbox and on friday pc and ps3. It was about freaking time.

Well, I say!!! Thanks for the news Anian!!! I have been waiting for it for a long time!:)

Still have to wait till Friday... but since I work all weekend I won't play it until Sunday... But that's still awesome!!!:)

[Anian]

...episode 2 is ok. It's one thing when you're reading or watching the Walking dead type of setting, but it kind of gets you really down when you always have tough choices and basically you always feel like crap after you made them. That might be the point though. Then again feeling like crap for 10+ hours doesn't sound that much fun.
I think they even put some "easy" choices here (because the statistics at the end show85% of the same choice, just give the player a break.

Puzzle design is practically none existent and story's twist is pretty predictable if you ever watched the show...or watched one particular movie/book.

Also the end was one of those "I don't agree with the game maker sort of choices: 

Spoiler

you get to the abandoned car, and there's no choice of leaving some food for the chance that somebody might comeback, I know they kind of wanted to make a point of the farmer's cannibalism for survival, but still a clumsy lack of choice

[close]

Any one else finished the 2nd episode?

[Chicky]

I just finished episode two, really loved the ending, the lighting added a lot in the shot through the door. I felt the second episode had a bit more choice and consequence, not sure i did as well as in the first.

Apparently i was with just 18% of players for one of the choices (which i would presume has a fair bit of impact on the story), i messed up

A bit more interaction would be nice and the control scheme isn't very well suited to PC gameplay, but i'm enjoying it!

[Grim]

It's not on PS Network yet... Maybe it's the Europe 'thing'? Everything's late here...

For now, I'll avoid reading anything about it;)

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Thematically I thought episode two was a bit of an improvement, though the plot twist was so utterly predictable that the moment I got to the farm I knew how it was going to turn out.  Still, there were a few things that were really problematic that Telltale needs to stop doing:

1:

Spoiler

They need to stop introducing one-off characters.  It's becoming too obvious that they're going to die and the moment they introduced Mark and showed he and your character getting along it was CLEAR he was going to die.  Bad design choice.  If they were going to kill him we should have had him in the last episode with some kind of build up.  As it was there was no time to really feel any empathy for him at all.

[close]

2:

Spoiler

The character you chose to save in the first episode (Carly or Doug) is now relegated to a tertiary character who performs co-equal support roles regardless of who you saved.  If it's Doug, his solutions are more mechanical like the alarm system, if it's Carly she makes an early zombie encounter slightly easier by shooting it.  Ultimately though these characters have been made weak distant roles by the very fact that they made them optional.

[close]

3:

Spoiler

Breaking into the abbetoir does NOTHING to forward the action.  A better solution would have been for one of the brothers to have knocked you out and locked you in there while the rest of the family was getting ready to eat and made some excuse.  Mark could have been inside and this would have made escaping more harried and necessary instead of the weird excuse that you're given that you just shrug off. 

[close]

4:

Spoiler

Kenny's sudden unreasonable response in the locker even when you tell him you gave his son the benefit of the doubt at the pharmacy.  It just did not sit well with me that Kenny, who I had backed up continuously to that point, refused to be reasonable and at least give me a chance to save Larry.  It felt like a forced schism in the group rather than a natural one as they clearly intended it to be.

[close]

Some things I liked:

Spoiler

I really like the running morality lessons for Clementine, from refusing to kill Larry to refusing to kill both brothers and even refusing to partake in the abandoned food, it made me feel like I was doing right by this little innocent girl and it made even the difficult choices bearable.  So far Clementine is the best part of the story in my opinion because she's so sweet and vulnerable and needs your character to remain humane and ethical even when the world is falling apart.

[close]

Overall I think it was better than the first but the zombie confrontation mechanics still feel lazy and limited.

[EchosofNezhyt]

I haven't played this game nor have I seen the trailers. I did however see the trailers for the Jurassic Park game and that looked absolutely terrible. Who would be interested in something like that?

Anyway, I enjoy the tv show. It's a little slow at times and the character development is a little awkward. How they randomly change to a completely different person from one episode to another. It's almost as bad as that Merlin tv show in that aspect.

I'll tell you what game I would be interested in playing. A game with Left 4 Dead's zombie spawning and attack/swarm style and Fallout 3 type of RPG elements. Mixed with the storyline of something like the Walking Dead, and I would be in love. I'm surprised it hasn't been done yet.

Exploring cities and towns that are filled with chaos, zombies and such. People eating people or trying to hunt you for food. Zombies attacking you. It would be fantastic. And if were mixed with a GTA style driving and physics as well, where you could drive any car that isn't damaged. Having to scavenge for fuel. Modding up the car with a ram, or putting bars on the windows. Filling the car with gear. Guns, ammo, food.

Someone needs to make that game. Now.

Not totally related but theres a cool zombie survival indie game that looks/so far is pretty promising         http://projectzomboid.com/blog/

[Armageddon]

I haven't played this game nor have I seen the trailers. I did however see the trailers for the Jurassic Park game and that looked absolutely terrible. Who would be interested in something like that?

Anyway, I enjoy the tv show. It's a little slow at times and the character development is a little awkward. How they randomly change to a completely different person from one episode to another. It's almost as bad as that Merlin tv show in that aspect.

I'll tell you what game I would be interested in playing. A game with Left 4 Dead's zombie spawning and attack/swarm style and Fallout 3 type of RPG elements. Mixed with the storyline of something like the Walking Dead, and I would be in love. I'm surprised it hasn't been done yet.

Exploring cities and towns that are filled with chaos, zombies and such. People eating people or trying to hunt you for food. Zombies attacking you. It would be fantastic. And if were mixed with a GTA style driving and physics as well, where you could drive any car that isn't damaged. Having to scavenge for fuel. Modding up the car with a ram, or putting bars on the windows. Filling the car with gear. Guns, ammo, food.

Someone needs to make that game. Now.

Not totally related but theres a cool zombie survival indie game that looks/so far is pretty promising         http://projectzomboid.com/blog/

You could also play DayZ, it kind of has an RPG element.

[Mati256]

Spoiler

I really like the running morality lessons for Clementine, from refusing to kill Larry to refusing to kill both brothers and even refusing to partake in the abandoned food, it made me feel like I was doing right by this little innocent girl and it made even the difficult choices bearable.  So far Clementine is the best part of the story in my opinion because she's so sweet and vulnerable and needs your character to remain humane and ethical even when the world is falling apart.

[close]

I agree with almost everything.

Spoiler

I decided to take the food, it was food and we where all starving. But coming to think about it, I don't think that food will have any impact in the plot for the next episode.
The first time Mark appears I thought "Who the hell is this guy?" And then they threw some lousy back story of how you met him, and then they kill him. Deus ex machina all over it.

[close]

Overall I liked it, but I don't know, there is something that was off with this episode.

[Snake]

I haven't played this yet, but from what I can say from the little bit I've seen on TwitchTV, I love it. Looks/seems like a great game. I've heard people say it's too "talkie" and more like a playable movie or similar, but it looks perfect to me. When I've got the extra money and when I'm thinking of it I'm definitely going to buy this one.

[selmiak]

I haven't played this game nor have I seen the trailers. I did however see the trailers for the Jurassic Park game and that looked absolutely terrible. Who would be interested in something like that?

Anyway, I enjoy the tv show. It's a little slow at times and the character development is a little awkward. How they randomly change to a completely different person from one episode to another. It's almost as bad as that Merlin tv show in that aspect.

I'll tell you what game I would be interested in playing. A game with Left 4 Dead's zombie spawning and attack/swarm style and Fallout 3 type of RPG elements. Mixed with the storyline of something like the Walking Dead, and I would be in love. I'm surprised it hasn't been done yet.

Exploring cities and towns that are filled with chaos, zombies and such. People eating people or trying to hunt you for food. Zombies attacking you. It would be fantastic. And if were mixed with a GTA style driving and physics as well, where you could drive any car that isn't damaged. Having to scavenge for fuel. Modding up the car with a ram, or putting bars on the windows. Filling the car with gear. Guns, ammo, food.

Someone needs to make that game. Now.

maybe you'll like the last of us:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me0onHb4FTg