Wherein I endorse a product and/or service.

[theweaselking]

Have finally, a year after stopping[1], gone back and finished The Walking Dead. (now "The Walking Dead, season 1", but y'know.)

I've said before that it's way better than the comics, and they're way better than the TV show. It is an absolutely brilliant game in every respect. It's pure story, with just enough "click fast" events to make sure you stay invested and make certain choices based on instinct rather than careful consideration. It has believable characters and actual meaningful choices: Decisions you make can *matter*, materially, a long time later.

Anyway. For $25 it's a steal and Telltale get rewarded, but keep an eye on it anyway: when it goes on sale, it goes on DEEP sale. As in, it was free on XBL a few months ago.

Play eeeet.

Also, do not confuse it with the TV tie-in game. That one is subtitled "Survivor Instinct", costs twice as much, and features a 38% metacritic score. For a movie comparison, that's SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER than "Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa" or "Superman Murders Everyone In Sight". It's better than the rating given to Highlander 2, for what that's worth?

Anyway. Get Telltale's The Walking Dead, not AMC's "Survivor Instinct".

(Also: Season 2, coming soon. Store page contains minor spoilers for season 1.)


[1]: On November 22 2012, I clicked an option I didn't mean to, played for 5 more minutes, decided to rewind and make the choice I actually wanted, and... didn't. Despite it being a great game, it took until the cold nights and early evenings were NEW again to make me want to go back and finish it. And also torrain finished it and DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF SPOILERS, SHEESH. But that's not my point. It's a brilliant game, just an *intense* one, y'know?

Comments

[torrain.livejournal.com]

I didn't think the number of times it made me cry was a spoiler...!

(Mind, I'm still not sure whether to count it as X or Y times, where X and Y are both integers.)

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

You are bad at spoilers. And then keep insisting that "X is NOT a spoiler, because Y" in the face of "STOP TELLING ME X OR Y AUGH STOP STOP STOP STOP NO SPOILERS AUGH"

[torrain.livejournal.com]

I work at getting better at this! And I am sorry. And am glad you liked the game anyway. :)

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

I agree that it's a great game and a great story. However, I never really got the feeling that any of my choices made a huge difference.

Spoilers in rot13:

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For the most part, I'm fine with that; there is a trade-off to be made between tight, dramatic storytelling, and letting players choose All The Things, and The Walking Dead is a story-focused game. And the choices you make _do_ have an effect on how the various NPCs act towards Lee, which is not nothing. But, those are second-order effects, not Big Choices that determine the outcome of the story.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

The choices you make greatly affect how events turn out, versus WHICH events turn out. Compare to more traditional "your choices matter!" advertising for games like, say, Bioshock, where your choices make absolutely zero difference at any time.

[cleodhna.livejournal.com]

I was playing it on iOS and really getting into it. Then my iPad had an unfortunate introduction to a tile floor. The Apple Store replaced it (even though it was technically out of guarantee- 'but not much'; that was superbly nice of them) but in the changeover I lost my game data, so kind of quit. I bought it on Steam: I thought it might be better as a full computer game, and the action is much more intense, but it turns out my computer is too old and weak to run it properly, so it's virtually impossible to aim the pointer, which leads to dying all the time... not a waste, though. I'll definitely replay it when I have a zippier machine. I'm going to give the iOS version another go. It is a great game. I do like the style of the artwork, too-- nicely different.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

It breaks my brain slightly that the only other modern game to use that kind of rastered graphics is Borderlands. Which leads to thoughts like "it is okay, I will phaselock the horde". But.

[cleodhna.livejournal.com]

I'm not much of a gamer, but I have read that Borderlands isn't much good.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Seconded, all of this.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

You are confused. Borderlands is brilliant.

It's just, being a whimsical loot-collecting shooter, it is completely unlike The Walking Dead in just about every way.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

It and L4D are the only two shooters I will play, basically. (I do not hate shooters. I am deeply deeply bored and frustrated and annoyed by them, but I don't hate them.) It is snappy, zippy, silly, catchy, and...

Did you ever see the 2008 movie Doomsday? It is sort of like that.

I am also not much of a gamer, especially in terms of range, preferring to spend hours and hours on a single deeply textured and thoughtful world with a plethora of choices. But Borderlands is bright clicky blasty fun.

(Speaking of Steam, would you like a copy of Fallout: New Vegas?)

[thornae.livejournal.com]

I actually picked up and started playing Borderlands some time ago on your recommendation.

My one complaint with it is the auto-save feature. Okay, it's nice and all, but one of the things I really like doing in RPGs - especially action RPGs - is exploring different paths. Like, could I have taken out Mothrakk with a sniper rifle from a distance, instead of with the rocket launcher from up close like I did?


Not being able to go back to a previous save point, I don't get to try this sort of thing out. I mean, I get that it moves the game along, but it bugs me somewhat.


... I have not yet tried playing as a Siren yet. Is it more fun than as a Hunter?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

You know you can cause just about every bossmonster in the game to respawn, right? You won't get the QUEST to kill it again, but nothing stops you from walking up to Mothrakk's peak and lighting the torches again.

(I think. Mothrakk *might* be a weird exception, but all the others? That works on.)

[thornae.livejournal.com]

You know you can cause just about every bossmonster in the game to respawn, right?

Apparently, I did not. Maybe I'll just try that. If I can remember how to get back there...


.... I'm still gonna grumble about it not being the same, though.

Also, this "phaselock" thing - does that work on bossmonsters?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Mothrakk lives outside Fyrestone, across Pisswash Gully but before that next area with all the dudes and the wind farm.

Also, this "phaselock" thing - does that work on bossmonsters?

Yes and no. Mostly no. Phaselock is the Siren ability, and it grabs your target (and possibly a number of his closest friends) and drops him in stasis for a number of seconds, held elevated above the battlefield. Some creatures are immune to it. Against creatures immune to it? It just does a SHITLOAD of immediate damage.

(I don't recall exactly how Borderlands 1 did it. I've been playing Borderlands 2 for too long.)

[cleodhna.livejournal.com]

Ooo, I most certainly would! But I think it's only for Windows, and I'm a Mac.

[cleodhna.livejournal.com]

Ah, well then, if I come across it I will give it a go. I don't hate shooters-- I often enjoy them. It's just I'm more of a story/sandbox person. I like The Sims... and... and... Minecraft.

Please don't hurt me.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

*checks* Windows 7/Vista/XP, dammit. You are correct. Oh well. (Perhaps in the future there will be a useful emulator or something.)

((Don't mind me, I pick up a couple of copies of the Ultimate Edition every time it's on high-discount sale precisely so I can pass it along to people. :) ))

[torrain.livejournal.com]

You know you can cause just about every bossmonster in the game to respawn, right?

Oh, I remember learning that.

"Doo dee doo, killed the scary quest-related named Skag... okay, just checking out the things I ran past... hmh, okay, I will head back up to the top again to get my bearings, it'll be okay because I already-- augh he's alive how is he alive this never happens in F:NV dammit aaaaauuuuugh."

[cleodhna.livejournal.com]

That is very kind of you! Don't worry. We get used to not being able to have all the cool stuff.