gud shit, I'm so happy to have this game back. Seems like they corrected some of their mistakes from S3 (and S2 to some extent) with the non-characterization. Still could use a little MORE tbh but it's a start. The length of the episode was great too, glad they're not skimping especially with only 4 episodes this season. That was almost S1 length
Spoiler
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MAJOR CHOICES
- Killed the walker couple. Even before I knew about the key I kind of wanted to. NOT LIKE THEY'RE GONNA CARE! Two less zombies in the world, even if they're tied up, is a good thing in my book
- Went fishing with Violet and Brody. This was kinda tough cuz I think the Louis and whats-his-name expedition would've been fun too. But the bedroom scene quickly made me like Violet and I wanted to deepen our relationship a bit. Plus I told everyone at the dinner table earlier that I've never had a boyfriend (FUCK GABE) so from the romantic side of things maybe Clem's more interested in Violet, WE'LL SEE
- Convinced AJ to sleep in the bed. No need to feed his paranoia
- Attacked Abel. Pointing a gun at AJ and threatening to starve half the people at the school. lolno. Gotta say his death scene felt a bit silly tho, like there's no way he wouldn't have pulled the trigger as the zombies were pulling him back. Unless he literally had no bullets in the gun and was all talk. Let's go with that
- Turned to Violet for help. My relationship was way deeper with her than Louis at that point so I was taken ABACK when she basically said "I don't really know you". I mean, FAIR, but still C'MON. I'm guessing that hesitancy was shown towards either one you picked tho, no matter the relationship? Though considering how I APPARENTLY left our relationship who knows. But in the end she ended up defending me so whatever
RELATIONSHIPS
- Left AJ hardened. I guess letting Abel die really had an effect on him. Hm. Killing the couple probably didn't help either!
- Left Louis heartbroken. Sorry bruh
- Brody DEAD. Um...? There's no way that wasn't a guaranteed death right?
- Left Tenn feeling bitter. HUH??? I did nothing but stick up for him this episode. I DON'T GET IT
- Left Violet feeling guilty. Again...HUH?? About what?? The screen didn't even seem to explain. All it said was she was annoyed by my initial flirting with Louis/felt flattered by me comforting her during our talk in the bedroom
- Marlon DEAD. Again...there's no way this wasn't guaranteed (I ASSUME) so I dunno why they bothered listing this
4 of 6 collectibles -- missed one of the flowers and a...cat skull?
THOTS
tbh the ending felt a bit silly. Or maybe I was just disappointed that I couldn't do the same thing with Clem/Marlon as I did with Lee/Lilly so she could follow in his footsteps even more. But still, they telegraphed that a bit TOO much if anything and didn't really sell it when the moment did come
BUT OTHER THAN THAT, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Like I said I could've used even more characterization but at least they're sticking to the same place for now so there's room for that. tbh I don't remember how much we knew about someone like Kenny or other big S1 side characters after the first episode
I really liked the new design of Clem's hat for some reason with the D partially ripped off and feel like commenting on it
Loved the callback to S1 with the swearing thing. I was disappointed when they just came out and had Clem immediately swearing in S2 after those little moments with Lee in S1 so I liked that they brought that back with AJ at least. CUTE LITTLE DETAIL
I wish I could've asked Tenn to draw Lee in his drawing of heaven :(((
I was trying to figure out who "there was a boy once" was alluding to. At first I thought the little black boy at the end of Jane's ending in S2, "nice hat!". I forgot about Duck (: But he was just my pal!
Length was good. Character side convos were alright but they didn't go too deep really. I do like the new characters so far and the setting is pretty fun
Nitpick, the fucking camera. I'd turn my mouse in the slightest while exploring and the camera would WHIP AROUND 180 DEGREES. It was so annoying. It made it very difficult to walk and look at things which I always love doing. Even with the sensitivity adjusted a whole lot it still wasn't great. It felt like they changed it for the worse from previous seasons
Spoiler
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Agreed RE: character convos. The gold standard that I always go back to in my mind from this series was when we first started talking to Omid/Christa in S1, it went SO in-depth into their backstory with branching follow-up questions etc that after first meeting them I already felt like I knew a ton about their motivations/background. I'm sure there was more intros like that from S1 that I'm forgetting too. But this was a step up from S2's side convos and a GIANT step up from S3's so definitely TRENDING well
ALSO agreed about the camera, I tried it out with the mouse until Clem/AJ started exploring the train station and immediately plugged in my controller after that. Feels so much more natural that way
I feel like they'd have to issue refunds if they don't release the rest of the episodes? So weird though, you'd think the board would be fine letting them finish what's surely their highest selling IP
They don't even show CHOICE information anymore! Definitely can tell things are already shutting down there. All I got at the end of the episode was the character states:
Spoiler
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Mitch DEAD
You allowed Louis to be kidnapped
You left Violet feeling vengeful
You left James feeling trusted
You left Lilly feeling unsettled
You left AJ feeling repentant
Abel captured
You left Ruby feeling grateful
You left Tenn feeling despondent
Rosie was loyal
Willy was annoyed
Omar and Aasim were kidnapped
2/3 collectibles
but anyway
LILLY IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew it'd be her as soon as they made a point to not show her face. They seemed to be going for a fake-out with James being someone we knew too but I'm glad they didn't. As much as I'd love to see someone like Christa again, one meet-up is enough really without making the world feel too small (plus there was the whole Kenny thing in S2 ofc)
But ya I was pumped to see her again. I vry much followed in (my) Lee's footsteps here and gave Lilly a million more chances, all of which she predictably fucked me over on except for the very end where she refused to kill me. I'm glad deep down she still has a small soft spot for her old "family" :-)
Also, ended up forming a relationship with/kissing Violet. I said it after the first ep but I'm really glad they made it an option to go with her over Louis/Aasim, it just feels more right for Clem. The scene between them on the clock tower was p beautiful/heartwarming. And it was made all the better cuz I wasn't sure if I fucked it up at the Truth or Dare game when I refused to answer if I had feelings for anyone in the circle. It didn't feel like the right time character-wise but then I started wondering whether that'd just shut Clem out of relationships entirely in the near-future, glad that wasn't the case. I'm kinda curious to see the Louis version of that now
p sure James ends up betraying us somehow (if they ever do finish the season)
I really wish there was choice information specifically to know how many people supported AJ's decision, cuz to my SURPRISE there was a ton of choices for that this episode. You could even SPIT on Marlon's grave right in front of Rosie wtf. There wasn't an ounce of me that felt like Marlon should've died, it was pretty clear he was just confused and scared and repentant at the end. So I pretty much lectured AJ on that all episode long
