They mostly stopped doing puzzles after the first couple of Walking Dead episodes, FWIW.
Nah, if you thought Walking Dead was awful rather than enjoyable I wouldn't say you should try Wolf Among Us. That being said, for better or worse (probably better) Fables is hardly a werewolf story. Besides which, I thought Wolf Among Us was definitely one of the better Fables installments.
Basically Walking Dead is adequate and Wolf Among Us is good. But now I did manage to get myself interested in that new Michonne thing. =P
Season 2 embodies the slogan "Your Choices Don't Matter", which was increasingly leveled against Telltale by disgruntled fans with every episode released. Let's say there are two characters in trouble and you have to decide which one to save. Whomever you choose, that character is guaranteed to die in some contrived way by the next episode. By the end, I left with the impression that these developments were not occurring for the betterment of the story, but rather that Telltale did not have the means to manage a plot with extra variables floating around, so they simply eliminated them ASAP.
I felt Season 2's cast of new characters was significantly weaker than their counterparts from Season 1; I didn't really care about most of them. Player-controlled Clementine (who is eleven years old) has apparently progressed beyond childhood, skipped adolescence altogether, and now has the personality of a well adjusted adult. I understand that living through the apocalypse forces you to become self-reliant, but it shouldn't completely override natural cognitive development.
They bring back Kenny, even though it was strongly implied that he died at the end of Season 1. This "surprising" resurrection cheapened the story in my opinion, and yet he still ended up being one of the only characters that I actually liked in Season 2.
Was this the PC/xbox version you played or the imminent PS4 version?
The devs made a post on the PlayStation blog that sounds mighty interesting. Kinda have to pick this one up now.
http://blog.us.playstation.com...
"We’ve added all kinds of improvements to push the experience beyond anything the public has seen yet, including transforming your DualShock 4 into the game’s supernatural radio via the controller’s speaker and light bar. But the most thrilling addition is the creation of a surreal New Game+ mode that will continue Alex’s story with a new purpose.... Alex’s story will continue beyond the traditional “ending” into different locations, conclusions, and a completely tweaked understanding of the events on the island."
Whoa, that's intriguing! I only played the PC version, but I see now a PS4 version is imminent.
Another vote here for Tales from the Borderlands. It's funny, has honest-to-God characters with motivations like real people, and there's real emotion and a heart to the story. I didn't think I'd like it at all after being disappointed in TWD and only feeling so-so about Wolf Among Us, but it's easily the best of the bunch and well worth playing regardless of your feelings on either Telltale or Borderlands.
Just read elsewhere that the additional stuff is actually being released on PC/Xbox aswell, rather than just as a PS4 exclusive.
Can I enjoy this without having played OlliOlli, the previous game in the series?
Good. Platform exclusive content is even worse than platform exclusive games, and that stuff sounds cool.
We have a winner.
Dadgummit, I keep forgetting about that one. Okay, so there's ONE good werewolf story.
I noticed the link to your Patreon. Out of curiosity, how much were you paid for a review when you used to do those? Do mock reviews pay more or less than those commissioned for public viewing?
It depends on the publisher, of course. But any job for an actual *company* pays more than what I used to get paid for freelance gigs. Freelance gigs never paid very well once the tech bubble burst. Come out to Los Angeles sometime and I'll be happy to talk numbers over a beer! :)
Careful Tom, I'm heading over soon, and there are few enough people with intelligent opinions on games that I'm tempted to take you up on that offer.
Indeed, nice move by the devs. Have picked this up now and enjoying it so far.
Reminds me a bit of Kentucky Route Zero in the way that you are shaping a conversation / story without it being "gamey"
"It’s all about flow, which I’ve never seen in a videogame (please tell me if I’m missing other examples of this, because it’s flat-out exhilarating for anyone who appreciates acting and dialogue)."
I doubt it's as good as Oxenfree, but don't forget about Alpha Protocol's dialogue system! That system's timing and Bauer/Bond/Borne approach was quite refreshing after all those Bioware RPGs.
Corrections:
"which hooked me in it[s] very first moment"
"by subtitles, by lists, [by] the artifice of picking from a menu"