There was a small part of the desert that wasn’t mapped yet, so after writing down the message Aleen deciphered, we asked her to fly us there. This was a mistake.Continue reading
Might and Magic Book Two [7] – Fighting And Helping Druids
Category: PC
Might and Magic Book Two [6] – A Year Later
It’s been a year since we arrived to Cron and the New Year’s celebrations took over our last few days. With a new year, it was time for new efforts.
Year 901, Day 1 – To the Swamp!
We went back to the swamp, or at least, we intended to. We flew to the western edge of it, but the first step into the marshes got us into a sinkhole. Moments later, we were surrounded by dust and dirt.
A brief look around the area told us where we were. This must have been the entrance to the Plains of Earth. There were mountains to the northwest, so based on our previous experiences, we concluded this was the south-eastern edge of the material plane of Cron.
Since we were here now, we decided to make the best of it and figure out some spells before we flew back into Middlegate. Alana and Priscilla meditated together for a while and it soon bore fruit. They constructed a prayer to the elemental forces to encase them into the very elemental force of earth.
Year 901, Day 2 – To the Swamp! For Real!
We ate lunch at the Slaughtered Lamb tavern before Aleen flew us back to the swamp.
The western part of the marshes was far more unstable, with sinkholes and quicksand forcing us to fly back and forth constantly. One should never get used to death, but it certainly seems we’re getting used to our own.
I thought I have to remember where the line split was. It was unnecessary,
That being said, we mapped out most of the swamp and concluded there is nothing left there to look for. We know of the cave in the middle of it as well as some dangerous creatures in the south, but that’s it. It was time to redirect our efforts.
Year 901, Day 3 – To the South!
We could hear the ocean west of the swamp, but a thick forest was blocking passage. Instead, we opted to move in from oaken grove, were the druids already began to move back into the area. It seems the creatures of Cron are extremely persistent.
The south was mostly covered in water.
The first thing we noticed was the artificial peninsula with the sign marking the “Evil Zone” wasn’t a peninsula at all. The narrow strip of land was actually connected to a similar flat area to the south, this one marked the “Good Zone”. On both of these, a small fortress was built. No guard were in front of either – only a sign proclaiming “Sorcerers only”. It seems Aleen will be able to decide on her allegiances soon.
To the south of this strange geographic construction was another island. This one was of natural origin, but obviously cultivated. It was owned by a name named Murray, who transformed it into a resort.
Each tile on the island gives you an option to use it in some way (have a drink, take a mud bath, etc.). The effect is different for every tile and it can go either way. One of them requires me to buy a ticket from one of the cities (paid customers only). I’ll try and see what I get from it later, but I’m not really interested right now.
Year 901, Day 11 – The Plains of Water
We were already at the entrance to the Plains of Water before, but now, thanks to our experiences, we knew exactly where the portal was. We soon approached the mountains dividing the southwestern corner of the material plane and the elemental plains and started scanning the horizon.
Something caught our eye. It looked like a crumbled roof, peering out of the mountain tops.
We marched towards it and soon discovered an old ruined tower, belonging to what was obviously a military garrison. In one of the rooms, affixed to the table at the center, there was an old scroll, barely holding together. Aleen took a look at it and gasped.
It was a spell scroll containing instructions on how to cast the clerical spell of Water Transmutation.
This one was completely, absolutely unexpected, but now I have to (re)visit the other four corners.
To the north of the mountain range, there was also, of course, the city of Atlantium. We decided to pay a visit to it on foot for the first time and took another look at the various shops and establishments.
Now that we had money, it was easy to spoil ourselves with the finest meals at the local tavern, but far more important was that the smithy was selling magical rings of defense. At 9000 gold a piece, they did not come cheap, but the protection they provide to some of our physically less hard members is priceless.
Rings of Defense +2 apparently add four armor class, so I bought them for anyone who has a free slot, which included Alana, Aleen and Robin. Alana now has an armor class of 32, which is absolutely amazing.
Did you see that armor class!?
Year 901, Day 13 – To Sandsobar!
The Sandsobar region was quick to explore. It’s located in the southeastern corner of the material plane, right next to the elemental Plane of Earth, where we already were.
Aside from the city itself and the famous healing fountain to the south of it, there was nothing of note.
Year 901, Day 14 – North of Sandsobar
We were back at the southern edge of desert.
Cron’s elemental origins are constantly apparent, especially in instable areas such as this one. Frequent earthquakes would trigger avalanches and landslides, inflicting pain and exhaustion upon our group, forcing us to frequently return to Middlegate.
Eventually, we mapped a large part of the desert and found that there was an oasis at the center. Hoping to find something magical and amazing, we stumbled onto a pull. Against our better judgement, which must have been just as exhausted as the rest of us, we decided to step into it.
As we got out, our bags contained nothing but ooze, with small pieces of their former content. Some strange liquid completely melted everything we had.
Year 901, Day 23 – Bags Restored!
It took as a week of flying, teleporting and portal travel before we finally had our most important items back – the castle key, the different colored keys we bought at the locksmith’s and the strange tickets the blacksmiths were selling.
That’s a week of our lives completely wasted, all due to carelessness.
Still, the southern desert region was explored.
Year 901, Morning of Day 24 – A Message
Aleen was up all night, trying to decipher some code, bits of which we found written in green lettering throughout Cron. She was fiddling with the cipher for a while now, but last evening, she seemed to have hit a breakthrough and did not sleep until she was done.
It turns out, some other random text that only Rax knew about, but wrote down just in case, was the cipher key. Once she realized that, it was just a matter of time before the cipher was broken and the hidden message was revealed:
For each individual to become true, see the jury which resides at Mount Farview. Travel in groups of appropriate class. A Robber can aid all others with their task.
None of us is completely sure what this means, but Corak did leave use notes back in Varn, which turned out to be extremely helpful. Perhaps he was prepared for what would happen in Cron as well, so he decided to aid us before he passed away.
In any case, we have already seen things related to our individual professions, so there’s a strong chance that all of this is somehow connected.
It definitely is. The game isn’t big enough for there to be anything else. I’ve seen special areas or characters connected with most of the game’s classes up to now. It looks like I’ll be able to take a robber along with one of the characters to each of these.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ve been to three of the four corners of the material plane, and we would like to visit the fourth. The problem is, there’s a volcano blocking our way.
Side Note: Party Progress
As usual, here’s where the valorous group of adventurers is currently at…
Lorelei, Level 11 Dwarf Knight
- Iron Helm +1
- Quiet Sling +2
- Dark Trident
- Hero Medal +2
- Mgt Gauntlet +1
- Plate Mail +4
Lorelei received absolutely no upgrades this time. Some nice items dropped, but the alignment requirement was sadly wrong, so I was forced to sell them.
Priscilla, Level 11 Human Paladin
- Iron Helm +1
- Hero Medal
- Shaman Pipe +7
- Magic Charm +1
- Plate Armor +2
- Ice Sickle +3
No upgrades for Priscilla either, but she did get up to spell level 3, meaning she can now cast Walk on Water as needed, as well as Cure Poison, saving up Alana’s spell points.
Rax, Level 11 Half-Orc Robber
- Crossbow +2
- Thief’s Pick +2
- Blazing Axe +4
- Silent Horn +3
- Great Shield +2
- S Chain Mail +4
No upgrades and no additions to Rax, sadly. A nice set of Thief’s Picks dropped, but again, they were of the wrong alignment.
Alana, Level 11 Gnome Cleric
- Hero Medal
- Quick Flail +2
- Large Shield +3
- Helm +4
- B Splintmail +4
- Defense Ring +2
Alana got a Defense Ring +2 since last time, bought at the shop in Atlantium. Her Armor Class is now 32, the highest in the party.
Robin, Level 11 Elf Archer
- War Hammer +2
- Hero Medal +2
- Ray Gun +1
- Chain Mail +4
- Defense Ring +2
- Great Bow +5
Robin also got a Defense Ring, since she had an empty slot. She also reached spell level 3, so I now have two transport services in my party. She can now cast all the extra costly spells, so Aleen can finally dish out some serious damage.
Aleen, Level 11 Elf Sorcerer
- Dagger +4
- Magic Charm +3
- Silent Horn +1
- Padded Armor +2
- Defense Ring +2
Aleen also got a Defense Ring, but more importantly, she got to spell level 6. Disintegration, Super Shock and Fantastic Freeze sound awesome.
Might and Magic Book Two [5] – Volcanoes and Snow
The desert was large and dangerous. The result of our exploration was not matching our efforts. There was a dangerous cave and there was sand; nothing else. Within a few days, we were back in Middlegate.
To the Goblin Lands
To the northeast, there were the goblin lands. A few weeks ago, we went there, hoping to find Vulcania, but gave up after several goblin ambushes. We were stronger now.
We were much stronger now.
The goblins posed no threat at all. Even their orc leader could barely put a dent in our defenses.
I’m thinking “Bozorc” is a pun of some sort. Maybe “boss orc”?
In fact, they were pathetically week, to the point where we took pity and them and decided not to raid their villages.
There was a reason he goblins settled there, though. Dragons don’t bother with pathetic creatures and goblins don’t bother with pride, so the nearby dragon flight served as convenient, though slightly dangerous protection.
Wyverns are stronger than in the previous game, but not by much.
For us, the flight served as a source of gold and danger for a while, but not for too long. They seemed far to organized, so we did not want to risk meeting the brood mother (or –father, we do not discriminate).
The area near the road in D-1 had frequent goblin ambushes. Goblins are weak, but they attacked in scores here, so it was a bit annoying to fight them. There were also a few goblin villages where the game gives the choice to raid or ignore them. For now, we ignored, but they probably reset anyway.
North of the road, you mostly fight Cloud Dragons and Earth Wyrms. Both can be defeated, but with some bad luck, both encounters can be extremely dangerous. The biggest danger, though, is the fact that one of the encounters, which seems to be random, is against an extremely dangerous opponent whose name I forgot. What I do know is that can do several hundred points of damage to everyone in the party, so there’s no chance in hell I can defeat it right now.
At the far end of the dragon infested area, there’s a cave called the Dragon Dominion. Suffice to say, I got in and immediately went out.
At the far east of the road, in a small canyon, there’s a fixed encounter against a large group of orcs and their leader. As with goblins, orcs are weak. Their leader can pack quite a punch, though, so it’s important to kill him first. The encounter provides decent experience for the effort, but not much else. It might be quest-related or something.
Vulcania
Further east, we realized how close we to Vulcania when we gave up a few weeks ago. “Just around the corner” would be a very appropriate phrase here. Unfortunately, the name of the city is Vulcania for a reason. It was built near a volcano, and the volcano is active.
Getting murdered by falling debris did not interest us so we returned to Middlegate, as we always do.
Vulcania is at the very edge of E1. A few steps past the city, you get a chance of randomly being hit by eruption debris and outright killed, so there was no point in trying to explore the place for now. There’s also an alternative route into E1 in the northern part of D1, but the same thing happens a few steps in.
The Southern Marshes
We’ve been to Sandsobar, but we are still not familiar with the lands between it and Middlegate. We knew there was the castle Hillstone along the way, but that’s all we knew.
Instead of visiting Hillstone and getting another, undoubtedly pointless task from the local madm… err, lord, we decided to explore the nearby marshes. Certainly, there would be poison and disease, but there’s bound to be treasure as well.
First, we took a walk along the edge of the marshlands, simply to get an idea of how large they actually are. The walk took us several days, so it’s safe to say the marshlands are large.
Several days later, after some preparation with items and spells, we stepped into the muck, starting from the eastern side.
Mostly, it was empty and flat. Packs of aggressive swamp dogs roamed freely, but they posed no threat to our experienced group.
Several large rocks decorated the landscape, with bright lights floating around them. It was a thing of beauty from a distance. From up close, it was pain and death for the careless – lightning bugs.
There was a cave in the middle of the marshes, with signs discouraging random adventurers from entering. For now, we decided to take heed, but soon, we would be back and ready to loot and pillage, or more likely, carefully map and explore.
As I said, the two swamp areas (D4, C4) were mostly empty. A few cliffs have fixed encounters against lightning bugs and you get attacked by swamp things, acidic blobs or random low level swamp-themed enemies. Other than that and the cave, belonging to a person named Dawn, if I remember correctly, there was nothing else.
The Circus
Keeping up with our tradition, we went back to Middlegate and decided to return to the western regions, to fight orcs, corrupt merchants and gryphons, but with no intention to try and explore the snow wastes.
As it turns out, the Circus was in operation. The last time we were in the area, the season just ended, so all we found was empty ground.
It was entertainment for the common people. Our party would easily be able to handle the various tests and games, so we opted out, for the sake of giving the common folk a chance. Lancelot took part in the strength challenge once, just to get a single cupie doll as a souvenir and we moved on.
Instead, we went and took care of the orc army camped nearby. Within hours, several hundred orcs were no more.
We also took the secluded path behind the Circus grounds, where we knew wild Gryphons roamed. There were more than we expected, and the path was far longer than we thought, but after a while, we found a clearing, where the Archer was waiting.
The Archer?
In Atlantium, several inscriptions told legends of famous adventurers, each mastering their own craft. We already met the Jouster and the Guardian, who we’ve failed to mention in this journal. This one was the Archer and we wanted to talk to our own archer, Robin, in private. Our issue with that was that our own archer was not able to get here on his own yet, so we told the legendary adventurer we would be back later.
I already mentioned Atlantium in one of these side notes. I found the Jouster, which is supposed to be the knight, in B3. The Guardian, I’m guessing the paladin, is in C3 and apparently, the Archer is in B2. I have no idea what I need to do with these guys, but the Archer seems to require me visiting him with only Robin in my party, which I can’t do, since I would have to fight a bunch of gryphons on the way to him.
The circus provides a bunch of challenges you can take part in, but all you get for winning are cupie dolls, so there’s no point. I remember a random NPC asking for one of those, though, so I took one with me, just in case.
The Cold Northwest
After hundreds of orcs, corrupt merchants and gryphons slain, the cold northwest suddenly seemed very alluring.
This was where Tundara was geographically placed. An information such as this is something your average city-dweller does not possess, since portal travel is the standard in Cron and moving about the world on foot, by carriage or on horseback seems far too dangerous.
The snow did not hide much, but it wasn’t all for nothing. On the southern edge of the plains, just slightly north of Pinesworth Castle, an abomination of a spider had its lair. It was the size of a comfortable mansion and it seemed hungry.
Then it spoke!
What has Mark lost?
It gave us a riddle. We are to guess what Mark lost, or it would devour us. How this is a riddle, we had no idea, but we met Mark already. His camp was south of Woodhaven and every traveler knew he lost his keys. This was our answer and our reward. The Death Spider, was it called itself, gave us Mark’s keys. How the creature had them in the first place, no one is likely to ever know.
For a death spider, that’s quite a mundane quest.
We brought them to Mark and returned to the snow plains. The area around Tundara was highly unstable and after a few days of exploration, an avalanche pushed us past the mountain barrier, into the icy area beyond.
Mark lost his keys. You lose your head if you don’t have them.
We’ve been to a similar place before, to the south. Down there, a whirlpool pushed us to the very edge of the elemental plane of water. This, on the other hand, was obviously the elemental plain of air. Taught by our experience, we set up camp and spent some time in the area.
A few days of meditation was enough for Alana and Priscilla to create a new spell – Air Encasement. With that, we took flight and returned to Middlegate before some powerful creature would destroy us, together with the camp.
These air elementals sure look like ghouls to me.
The ice plains cover almost four entire map regions, but the A1 and A2, which I explored this time, had almost nothing in them. There was the Death Spider in A2 and there was Tundara itself in A1, but other than that, there wasn’t anything of importance.
Of course, half of A1 was part of the Air Elemental Plane, though I don’t really understand how that works. On one hand, there’s a portal leading to the Plane in the area, which would imply that this wasn’t the Plane yet, but on the other hand, the message about learning the Air Encasement spell was written like this was the Plane already.
Giving Mark his keys gave us 10.000 experience points, which isn’t a huge reward, but it’s repeatable, so it could be a good source of early levels. For me, flying back and forth 20 times for a single level doesn’t sound like fun.
The air elemental area, of course, has encounters with air elementals. They hit the entire party for over 100 damage per character, so they’re beyond me for now.
Side Note: The World Map
The World Map in Might and Magic Book Two wraps, which I don’t think is something that happened in Secret of the Inner Sanctum. In the first game, the area map wrapped if you used Teleport or Etherealize, but that’s it.
It wraps in a weird way to, like it wasn’t supposed to. Snow suddenly cuts off in A2 and the desert from E2 starts in a straight line. The elemental plains are even weirder, since there’s one in each corner of the map. Basically, you move from ice to fire in a single step.
It also wraps in the north and south, so it isn’t simulating a sphere either.
I’m thinking it might be some sort of side-effect of the game engine and not something intentional. For the sake of being able to write a story, I didn’t use this to enter the fire and earth plains yet.
Side Note: Party Progress
As usual, here are my characters, and here’s where they’re at…
Lorelei, level 11 Dwarf Knight
- Iron Helm +1
- Quiet Sling +2
- Dark Trident
- Hero Medal +2
- Mgt Gauntlet +1
- Plate Mail +4
The Might Gauntlets provide 7 strength when worn and another 11 or so when used. The using part isn’t important, but the constant extra 7 to strength provided a nice boost to Lorelei’s damage.
Priscilla, level 10 Human Paladin
- Iron Helm +1
- Hero Medal
- Shaman Pipe + 7
- Magic Charm +1
- Plate Armor +2
- Ice Sickle +3
Priscilla recently reached spell level 2, so she’s more useful in that department as well, being able to take over protective spells from now on. The Ice Sickle +3 dropped randomly, which pretty much proves that the Ice Sickle +2 I got in the snow area wasn’t some special artifact.
Rax, level 11 Half-Orc Robber
- Crossbow +2
- Thief’s Pick +2
- Blazing Axe +4
- Silent Horn +3
- Great Shield +2
- S Chain Mail +4
The chain mail and the shield were Rax’s upgrades this time. Her thievery is at 72%, but we still get hit by traps very often. An important change in Might and Magic Book Two is that traps are now able to hit twice, it seems. This means that traps can kill you if you’re low on health in Gates to Another World. In Might and Magic Book One, traps would only hit once, meaning that as long as you have at least 1 health left, no trap can ever kill you, only knock you unconscious.
Alana, level 11 Gnome Cleric
- Hero Medal
- Quick Flail +2
- Large Shield +3
- Helm +4
- B Splintmail +4
Alana got the helm, the shield and the splint mail this time, so things went well for her. Her spell level also went up to 6, so she can cast strong spells. The only spells I know right now are Rejuvenate, Water Encasement and Stone to Flesh. I hope to learn more soon, but I guess I should start exploring dungeons for that.
Robin, level 10 Elf Archer
- War Hammer +2
- Hero Medal +2
- Ray Gun +1
- Chain Mail +4
- Great Bow +5
The Great Bow is the obvious upgrade this time. Compared to a regular old Long Bow +1 (I think that’s what I had), this was amazing. Robin also reached spell level 2, so she took over Eagle Eye and Protection from Magic, allowing Aleen to conserve her spell points.
Aleen, level 10 Elf Sorcerer
- Dagger +4
- Magic Charm +3
- Silent Horn +1
- Padded Armor +2
I don’t think Aleen got any upgrades this time, except maybe Padded Armor +2. She used to wear a normal padded armor, but I can’t remember when she replaced it. There’s no level 11 for Aleen yet either, which means there are no level 6 spells.
Vagrant Story [6] – Zero Happenings
Last time in Vagrant Story, some major story events happened. This time, it was the exact opposite. There was no story whatsoever.Continue reading
Might and Magic Book Two [4] – Dragons, Water and Sand
We gained access to a cave that used to be guarded by crazed druids. Barging into random caves is no way for an intelligent adventurer to act. We needed a plan and for that, we needed to know the lay of the land.Continue reading
Might and Magic Book Two [3] – Back to Square One
Spending a few days in Tundara was enough for us to realize we were just wasting our time. Fighting any battle in the magically protected outer walls of the city was more or less impossible. We decided to move on, by taking the portal to Vulcania.Continue reading
Might and Magic Book Two [2] – To Sandsobar and Tundara
I lied last time. I actually did leave Middlegate for a few moments, just to check how to Location spell works in the overworld. In those few moments outside, something strange happened.Continue reading
Might and Magic Book Two [1] – Gates to Another World
Might and Magic Book One is light on the story, but from what I can tell, Book Two aims to remedy this, at least to a degree. Even the manual starts with a story about Corak.Continue reading
The Walking Dead [3] – Final Impression
Episode 5 of the Walking Dead is completed and I can now say with confidence that it’s a bad game. But wait, there’s more…
It’s a Good Story
I’m not saying decent anymore. The Walking Dead definitely tells a good, even great story. There’s plenty of twists, there’s drama, and there’s an emotional involvement for the player. It’s hard to write about it in detail without spoiling anything, so I won’t, but I’ll definitely say that it’s one of the better stories I’ve experienced in the past few years, at least when it comes to newer games.
Your choices apparently determine the final group composition.
The game is worth buying and playing for the story alone. As for other stuff, well…
The Characters
I have to separate the characters from the story here, because evaluating these two elements as one would lower the grade. I’m sorry, but the characters are inconsistent and often make no sense. Throughout the game, I felt like the game was trying to make me feel one emotion for a character, but ended up having a completely different effect.
I’ll say it again, maybe it’s me – maybe I’m the weird one out. I don’t think I am, though.
Oh, and one more thing about the characters. I’ve seen plenty of people argue you don’t need good graphics to show emotion. It’s true, you don’t. You do need excellent voice acting to compensate in that case, though, and this game only has adequate voice acting, nothing more. Because of that, some of the scenes can be a bit unsettling or awkward.
I really hated Kenny before this room. He got a bit better from here.
This might be controversial, but at this point, I’m honestly thinking that a lot of gamers want games to generally be as accepted as other art forms so badly, that they’ll ignore the bad elements as long as the good elements seem worth showing off.
Which brings us to the gameplay.
There’s nothing to Write About
All the while playing through the five episodes of the Walking Dead, I was enjoying the story to a degree, but there was something about the game that was just off-putting, that made it an unsatisfying experience. I couldn’t quite understand what it was, but it kept nagging at me, all the way to the end of the fifth episode.
Now that I’m here, writing about it, I finally understand what it was.
When I was playing Might and Magic Book One, I could write two pages of notes just from playing through a single dungeon. I could do that, and there’s almost no story in Might and Magic Book One.
The Walking Dead is all story, but there is absolutely nothing to write about. Why is that?
I’m not Doing Anything
I never did, actually. Sure, I push a button every now and then, and maybe those button pushing sections are made in a way to make the drama you’re watching a bit better, but most of the time, you’re just watching, and again, those button pushing sections are made to watch a better drama, not play it.
Seeing how close some of the locations are makes the story of the final four episodes a bit more logical.
Some of you will say that this is completely acceptable, that it’s maybe even better that way. Fine, that’s your opinion and I respect it. I couldn’t agree more, though, especially when you want to nominate a game like that as game of the year. It has almost no gameplay to speak of and you want to nominate it for Game of the year? Really? How does that make sense?!
Hell, I’d nominate Offspring Fling as Game of the Year sooner than I would the Walking Dead.
I know I’m not Consistent
If I was playing an old Lucas Arts adventure right now, I’d probably feel about the same. Walking Dead is a much simpler game than any of the older Lucas Arts adventures, but I wouldn’t have much to write about Monkey Island 3 without revealing the story either.
The game certainly offers great screenshot opportunities. I have to give it that.
Still, those were games that felt like you were playing them. You had freedom and options. It was all an illusion and there was still only one way to go forward, but illusions are important in games, or at least they are to me.
At least, I would have been able to write about those illusions. I could put up a screenshot of a non-story related humorous part, or write about a completely over the top and illogical, but fun puzzle.
At least with those games, you felt like you were beating them, which is what I expect games to offer me, first and foremost. With the Walking Dead, the game is just unfolding in front of me – I’m not the one doing anything. It’s more like the game is playing me.
It’s an Empty Gaming Experience
Again, it’s a good story, but the Walking Dead simply does not give me what I want from games – a game. A system of rules I can work with in order to master them, figure them out and beat them. I’m not against a great story. I love a great story in games. I don’t want just a great story. I want all of the above to.
It makes me Feel Detached
The more that I think about the Walking Dead and modern AAA games, the more I think that most of these games are going in the same direction. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of an AAA title that gave me what I want in the past few years.
Again, some great screenshots in this game.
I can think of plenty of retro games that did, and I can list a bunch of indie titles that did it, but not AAA games. Am I really that detached from the mainstream industry? Is it really just me that has this problem? I can’t be the only one, right?
I’m not Mad, Though
So the AAA gaming industry doesn’t really interest me anymore. Somehow, it doesn’t upset me. The thing is, I recently realized there are so many great games out there I haven’t played yet, it’s really difficult to be upset when you realize a tiny subset of games isn’t made for you anymore.
I guess I’ll just stick with retro and indie games for now. Trends change, so I might play a high budget game with deep mechanics again. Torment seems like it might be fun. The new Shadowrun already looks fun. We’ll see.
For now, I’m thinking I should move on to Might and Magic Book Two.
The Walking Dead [2] – Episodes 3 and 4
Did it The Walking Dead get any better? No! Yes. Maybe…
The thing is, I’m not really sure if it did get better. I mean, I enjoyed the story in the first two episodes and I’m continuing to enjoy it. I did it in spite of the gameplay in the first two episodes and I’m still doing it in spite of the gameplay. I does seem like I enjoy it a bit more, though.
The Story still isn’t perfect
On the one hand, the characters and the story of the Walking Dead did sort of grow on me. On the other hand, I’m noticing some new annoyances. At times, and this is relatively often, the writing can get lazy. Maybe it’s because of all the branching options and budgetary issues, but suddenly, characters seem to completely shift their personality, just to provide a plot point.
It’s difficult to pick screenshots that don’t spoil too much of the story, so here’s a random photo.
It reminds me of the TV show Glee, where each and every character has a personality that fits their role in the episode and absolutely nothing is consistent.
At first, some random guy is all nice and helpful. Then the story slows down and we need some conflict, so suddenly he’s a cowardly, spineless moron. A few moments later he’s all nice again and then he’s suddenly a traitor.
Clementine learns how to shoot.
It doesn’t just happen with a single character, it happens with most of them, except maybe Clementine and the couple you meet towards the end of episode 3 and even there, the woman can show these symptoms at times.
The Gameplay continues to annoy
I’ve gotten used to the lack of it by now, but it’s still annoying to go through an intense part, only for everyone to suddenly slow down, without any sense of urgency left and “give you a chance to talk to them”. It’s obvious that this is what the Walking Dead is doing. The developers decided you don’t bind with the characters enough through storytelling, so they make you talk to them and force you to bind that way.
There are zombie kids to.
To me, this, again, looks like lazy writing – instead of figuring out how to do it right, the game just gives you a round of talking every half an hour or so. It might not be obligatory – I haven’t checked, but it sure feels that way. I mean, at one point, I start at the front of a train, and on every screen, there’s a character waiting to talk.
Now, this could be OK, if it only didn’t happen so often. As it is, the Walking Dead feels extremely formulaic which, to me, ruins the immersion.
I was actually surprised at one point
OK. Honestly, the game isn’t as bad as I’m making it seem. I’m just focusing on the bad parts. The truth is, I’m enjoying the story about as much as I enjoyed the story of the TV show. After getting used to the bad gameplay, I’m doing a better job at getting it over with quickly, so it doesn’t bother me as much anymore. The fact that I enabled the option to better indicated interactive spots on the screen also helps – I figured since I’m not playing it for the sake of playing it, I might as well make the playing part as easy and quick as possible.
And as I said, the story did surprise me a few times. I was starting to get used to the basic formula, so at one moment, I thought to myself “oh great, and now this one dies to”, only to have the game pull a Mass Effect 3 Grunt dies and then he doesn’t move. Of course, the game did it somewhere between a few extremely predictable events, so let’s not give it too much credit.
Bugs are starting to show
So we’re back to talking trash about the Walking Dead. I started to encounter bugs, especially in episode 3. It’s mostly limited to graphical glitches, but sometimes, it also affects gameplay. Objects at the edge of the screen disappear from before they’re completely gone from the camera’s view, or sometimes even if they’re right down smack in the middle of the screen.
Molly is one of the new arrivals to.
The worst, and the funniest, was when one of the characters (I don’t want to spoil too much) was holding their child in their arms – the kid completely disappeared, making the woman basically hold an air baby. It really ruined the scene, which was supposed to be sad.
The Rules serve the Story
This is another example of lazy writing. The characters talk about how they lack ammo, but two minutes later, you get to shoot zombies to infinity, though it could have been written in a way to make the whole ordeal avoidable.
In Episode 2, everyone was hungry, but in episode 3 and 4 the lack of food, which is apparent, is barely even mentioned.
There’s one thing that also concerns the TV show, and probably the graphical novel series. The gist of it is that everyone is infected. It doesn’t matter how you die – if the brain lives, you get back up. The reason why you die due to zombie bites is because they infect you with various germs and stuff, so that random infection kills you.
Well, that’s fine, but I don’t understand two things:
- How is it possible that each and every little bite, no matter how tiny, always kills you, unless you cut off the limb or something?
- If the above is possible, how is it possible that you get to walk around with an open wound, with zombies crawling all over you, but you’re safe, as long as they don’t bite you?
Did anything that would explain these two things ever happen in the novel, TV show or the game? I honestly can’t remember, and it makes no sense to me.
I mean, they’re walking, feeding dead people, so I guess some suspense of disbelief is needed, but if the rule was invented for the sake of realism, then it should be consistent, or at least sort of logical.
Saving moment
As I said, though, it’s not all bad. At one point, the game at least considered the idea of zombies starving to death. I don’t want to describe the moment completely, but there was a zombie that died of hunger and then rose, continuing to not have any food until the game’s characters find it. It wasn’t able to stand straight, so I guess that the corpses do eventually stop moving and there is some sort of metabolism involved in the whole hunger thing.
Some of the Characters are extremely annoying
I won’t say which characters, because again, the story is the only thing the Walking Dead is worth playing for, so I don’t want to spoil it, but several characters exist in the game that I just wished would die at the start. They’re inconsistent, annoying and the game is trying to show them as people important to Lee, which makes no sense to me, because all they ever did was to demand too much from Lee and bee completely unreasonable.
The married (?) couple are the most consistent characters in the game.
There’s one character that’s especially like this, and it should soon become obvious to anyone playing the game.
Or maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m the one whose brain doesn’t work right, so it just seems off to me. Feel free to insult me in the comments if you disagree.
It’s Mass Effect 3, throughout
That’s honestly how it feels. Mass Effect had a great overarching story. I absolutely loved most of it. However, each game had branching parts and they all needed to somehow end. Even from one game to another, it was getting obvious the writers were trapping themselves, creating too many branches and making it too difficult to end it all properly and tie up the loose ends.
Tying up the three games with each other was difficult enough, and it showed between the sequels. Ending it all completely was basically impossible, which is why the ending of Mass Effect 3 was received so badly.
With the Walking Dead, it seems like the writers had this problem constantly, since there are so many branching moments throughout the game. At points, the only viable choice was to simply merge two branches badly, because leaving them separate would create an impossible situation.
From what I see other people saying, this is exactly what’s happening. The game’s story adapts and changes depending on your choices, but there are so many choices that most of them just don’t matter. A character fills a role taken by another character, or the game doesn’t put that character in the spotlight any more, or it simply kills them off soon enough.
Sadly, I think it would have been better if some of these choices simply didn’t exist. At least then, the writing would have probably been better.
It’s the exact same thing I said in my previous posting – the fact that they wanted a game; the gameplay, is working against the story.
It’s a Good Story
I keep repeating this, because I have to. It isn’t A Song of Ice and Fire, but the Walking Dead provides an interesting story, which I want to follow to completion.
I’m looking forward to playing the last episode of the Walking Dead. In one small part, it’s because I just want to finally get it over with, but a much larger part of it is because I want to see how it ends.
Zombies on spikes! It had to happen at some point.
The Walking Dead isn’t a good game, but it’s a good story and a good experience. It could have been better, but as it is, it’s more than likely worth your time. If you can spend the time to watch the TV show, you certainly can spend the time to play this game.