#literally the first thing we learn about the Clem and AJ dynamic is that she taught him to read on her own tillie what are you smoking

[donerunning]

Also what is with this consistent theme of Clementine struggling to read in the comics??? She literally taught AJ to read and there are multiple instances in the game where she is presented with text and reads it out loud no problem no stumbling whatsoever ?? Why is she so dumbed down 😭

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Top 10 favorite things about TFS?

Bold of you to assume I can narrow it down to just 10 things, but I’ll try my best. 

Here’s a list of things I LOVE about The Final Season of TWDG, starting from #10 and working my way down to #1.

10. Rosie is best girl and doesn’t die 

Listen, okay? If you give me a game with a doggo companion that I bond with only to have said doggo die for dramatic effect... you automatically lose 2 outta 5 stars on your rating. Case in point: Season 2.

However, tfs knew not to kill Rosie off for dramatic effect, knew it’d be cheap. Plus, Rosie is a sweetheart and I love that she helps Clementine come to terms with her past trauma with dogs and genuinely bonds with her. Rosie is best girl. 

9. Over the shoulder camera/controls 

They’re the best of the series, having come a LONG way since S1. Like, look... Don’t get me wrong. S1 isn’t unplayable or anything, far from it, but they’re not the greatest either. They’re pretty wonky at times, the fixed camera can get annoying when you’re moving around, and sometimes button presses don’t register. It’s definitely something I have to get used to whenever I go back and replay the entire series, and like I said, it’s not the worst controls in the world... but oh man, compared to TFS?

Have you ever played S1 and then jumped straight into TFS just to get a direct comparison of the two? Because I have and it’s jarring how much smoother, accurate, and overall better everything is in TFS.

Just... props, guys. Thank you for the over-the-shoulder, movable camera, thank you for the polished button prompts, and thank you for a run button that has Clementine go into a nice jog rather than a comical run or, eh... does nothing [lookin’ at you ANF... Javi slow].

It’s just so effortless to play. The most trouble I ever have is with doors but that’s a given- Doors make no goddamn sense in this series and I’ve given up trying to learn their secrets. Oh, and speaking of more improvements! 

The shooting mechanic in this game is leaps better than in S1. Y’all remember the Motor-Inn shootout? The one that was such a frustrating pain in the ass?? So much death and anger...

I still die sometimes when shooting the walkers with the bow, especially the ones that are on fire, but it’s nothing compared to the shooting mechanic in S1, so the biggest THANK YOU for that one. It’s actually enjoyable to shoot stuff this time around.

8. Collectibles 

You as Clementine get to pick up various collectibles to decorate her and AJ’s dorm with and it’s great. One of my favorite bits about this game is seeing Clementine wake up in this empty, lifeless room, and see it get brighter and brighter with every collectible you place throughout the game until you reach the final scene with AJ where the room is just FULL of life and personality. Like... it’s officially theirs. It’s such a good feeling! 

And the devs totally didn’t have to add the collectible system in, but I’m so thankful they did. I’m one of those people who gets every single collectible every single time I play. 

7. Ericson’s Boarding School for Troubled Youth

Y’know, I honestly can’t think of a better place for Clementine and AJ to end up than Ericson’s Boarding School for Troubled Youth. It’s awesome, I love it, what a great idea. I also love the sense of wonder when we step outside for the first time and see the inside of Ericson, as well as the others, walking around. Like even Clementine is taken back by it.

Because of course it makes sense for Clementine to end up in a school surrounded by people closer to her age rather than with a group of dumbass adults like in the past three games.

Here it feels like they’re all about on the same level. There’s no older person here belittling Clementine because “she’s just a child and doesn’t get it,” they’re just people, y’know? Hell, if anything, Clementine’s now the most experienced one!

The school’s great! I wouldn’t change a thing about TFS taking place here. The environments are beautiful and I love exploring the world. 

6. Marlon as an antagonistic character/final confrontation 

I have an entire Marlon character discussion/study so I won’t put too much time into this one, but I will say that I love Marlon’s part in tfs. I love him as a surprise antagonistic character, I love how chill he is in the beginning, I love the final confrontation at the end of ep1... I just really like Marlon, y’know?

Ray Chase gives a damn near perfect performance as Marlon, so much so that I wish he survived past ep1 just so that I could hear more of his acting. Marlon himself in an interesting look at a leader character hiding his shame and guilt while trying to maintain control over everyone [including himself] around him, only to be broken down when he’s found out. 

5. James 

I know people tend to be pretty split on James, but I personally really like his role in tfs. I love that they included a character who was apart of the Whisperers, and hell, if anything I’d like to know MORE about James’ past with them. 

I just find him and his whole “walkers are sort of people? kinda?” beliefs. Again, I know some people get annoyed with him because of his beliefs but I think he adds an interesting spin on the whole thing, y’know? Though I do love what a bitch he is if you don’t agree with him hahaha

James is a bitch and I love him, okay? I love his dumb walker mask, I love his dumb boyband hair, I love his whispery voice, and I love his backstory with the Whisperers and Charlie. I love this he’s trying so hard to be this pacifist that he ends up doing the literal thing he said he doesn’t want to do-- hurt people. Y’know... like attempting to kidnap AJ and threatening to break Clementine’s leg in the caves if he’s alive. 

Which, by the way, that whole cave scene is a thing. It’s wild and I love it but not for the reasons the devs probably wanted. Like... it’s a little hilarious? I know it’s not supposed to be! But I can’t take James seriously when he’s walkin’ around his hands on his hips all huffy and puffy, okay? It’s just wild. 

Anyway, I love James and wouldn’t get rid of him. Hell, I’m still waiting for my James with the Whisperers mini-series, Skybound. 

4. Ericson Crew

There isn’t a single character from Ericson that I don’t like, or that I’d get rid of, which is rare with these games. Thinking back to the previous games, there’s always at least one person I could do without or that I didn’t like. I adore all of them!

The Ericson crew just feels closer than previous groups. For starters, they’re way more likable than most in our previous groups. Even when there’s tension [and boy is there tension at points] you still get the sense that they don’t hate each other, unlike in our previous groups. They do in fact love each other as a family and will do what they can to protect one another.

Plus, they’re all interesting. They’re troubled youth and I love all of them! 

Aasim keeps a daily journal where he chronicles everything in hopes of learning from past mistakes to prevent future ones, he’s damn good with a bow, and he’s got a neat little soul patch on his chin.  

Ruby is the tiny yet fiery medic of the group who adamantly believes in manners yet used to chase teachers around with pitchforks. 

Brody is caught up in the twin mess with Marlon but she’s also shown to want an escape, a road trip where she and her friends can go see the beach, but she also suffers with anxiety and panic attacks and isn’t afraid to knock Marlon on his ass or swear at Clementine. 

Mitch is a grumpy, tall boy who looks after Willy like a brother, knows how to make bombs out of manure and propane, and used to fight his neighbors because they didn’t like his face. 

Omar is a sassy chef who has to have every ingredient just right otherwise he’s salty for a week and he can take a bullet to the leg like a champ. 

Willy’s a goober who can climb trees like you wouldn’t believe and he made a bomb of his own in Mitch’s honor that completely wrecked the delta’s ship. 

Tenn is a soft, naïve boy who draws and reads but isn’t afraid to stab a walker bitch if he has to. 

Violet was sent to the school after witnessing her grandmother’s dead, she used to date Minerva who is now “dead,” has abandonment issues,  tries to give off the appearance of a grumpy grump but like once she’s comfortable with you she’ll tell you her life story and do romantic shit like dancing and painting you a pin. 

Louis was sent to Ericson because he was a rich brat who broke up his parents marriage because they wouldn’t let him take singing lessons and has felt like garbage ever since, using humor to cope and push people away, and keeps the façade on until someone’s willing to see past it in which he’ll finally bare his soul to you, name a song he wrote after you, and do everything in his power to keep you and everyone else safe over himself. 

I just... Love ‘em all. 

3. Clementine and AJ’s dynamic 

To think that they almost killed AJ off, or kept him a minor character. That would’ve been a shame and an absolute waste because Clementine and AJ’s dynamic is super fucking good in tfs. 

It’s actually a little baffling that AJ’s as good as he is, from his writing to his voice acting, he’s just great. And his relationship with Clementine is definitely one of my favorites to come from this game. It’s not perfect, but I don’t want perfect. 

I love that AJ looks to Clem for guidance and I love the way our choices affect him, even when it’s a case of the bridge scene. Hate the bridge scene knowing that I gotta sacrifice a character I care about for another I love, but I can’t deny that I love how that choice is made. After everything, do you trust AJ or not? 

Plus, their conversations are so well done, their chemistry is through the roof, and I wouldn’t change it. 

Oh, and the barn scene? Gets me every time, even though I already know everything’s fine and gonna work out. Still gets me. 

2. Clementine is Bisexual

I’ve talked about this in the past, but lemme just say that I love the fact that Clementine is canonically bisexual. 

Doesn’t matter if you’re dating Louis, Violet, or no one, Clementine is still bisexual. The game confirms it through it’s text/subtext and Clementine’s actions that we don’t have control over, and the devs confirmed it. She ain’t straight, she ain’t a lesbian, she is bisexual. 

I can’t express how happy that makes me. Just... 💗💜💙

And with her being bisexual comes her two great love interests: Louis and Violet. They’re amazing, and such an improvement over the previous game’s attempt at love interests... ahem, y’know... Kate.

1. Louis as a character/his relationship with Clementine 

I mean... c’mon. Y’all knew what #1 was gonna be. Do I even need to explain? This entire blog is just me gushing about Louis/clouis. 

Look, Louis is my favorite non-playable character across the entire series. Hell, even when you factor in playable characters, he’s STILL my absolute favorite. Like, even outside of his relationship with Clementine, I find him to be such a compelling character by himself. 

Like I mentioned above, he came from a stupid rich family who gave him everything he ever wanted, but when his father wouldn’t let him take singing lessons, he literally worked for over a year to break up his parents marriage because “you get to be happy or you get to be rich, can’t be both.” 

He gets sent to Ericson where the apocalypse happens, he never gets to make up with his parents, and he ends up using jokes and piano as a coping mechanism to deal with everything, falls into a cycle of being unreliable and the butt of the joke, and lives one day at a time without much thought for the future. 

He puts on the happy jokester persona to push people away from knowing the real him and rarely shares much about himself. Hell, when Clementine does hunting and decides to take care of the walker with him, he actually does let down the wall for a minute to share his view on “this moment” before looking away like “Oof, shared too much-- HEY, GO CHECK ON AASIM :D I’LL BE OVER HERE :D FIXING THE TRAP :D and adjusting the wall ahem--” 

It’s so interesting because you’d think that he’d be more open about his past with Marlon or the twins or whatever [like Violet is] but no, he doesn’t tell you shit about his past until EPISODE 3 and you have to work to get that story. 

I just... I just love him. Could talk about and analyze his character for hours. And I love his relationship with Clementine. It’s just so good. The piano scene where they finally admit their feelings for one another?? That shit has my entire heart. Their entire relationship is my favorite. What else is there to say? 

[kareofbears]

take this as a free card to ramble about the walking dead 👉👈

oh anon, there’s no one i love more than you. 

shoving this under the cut because i don't really think a lot of people would care what i have to say about this, since this isn’t really what my blog is about at the moment but wow is the walking dead a brilliant game that's mastered the art of story telling

just throwing this out there, i am currently listening to “Louis’ song” because he is my third favorite character in this whole game and also “Clementine’s suite” because its killer 

okay okay so, why am i suddenly so up in arms about this game? let me tell you! 

i first became interested in this game right when it came out, sometime in 2012. i was 11 at the time, and my family was pretty poor so i had to rely on YouTubers to watch this game and i absolutely fell in love with it. loved the characters, the twist and turns. but i only watched the first season. 

and coming back to it now, as someone who’s consumed a lot of media, who avidly criticizes games and story telling, this game has the absolute best story telling I've seen from any game I've ever seen before. 

this isn’t a new statement--people talk about telltale, revere telltale even now that their characters and storytelling is untouchable, and its true. you can tell that its about the story the minute you see the graphics of this game: a comic book. this isn’t about the gameplay at all, or the mechanics of killing walkers, no. its a story. a simple story of a girl who had to grow up in the world of a zombie apocalypse. 

season 1 is a prequel to the rest of the game. it introduces us to a man named lee--lee who killed his wife in a fit of rage and was going to prison when hell breaks loose. and season 1 is brilliant because in a typical survival game like this, people go ape shit. they'll kill whoever they need to, steal whatever they need in order to survive. but the fact that they introduce clementine into this, a young girl who thinks the world of you, it holds you back. it reminds you that there’s actions to your consequences, that even in this lawless world, there are still things that we should keep and treasure and preserve in order to want to live in a world like this. and when lee dies? it teaches you, the player, to love clem as he did. because we are now in charge of clem. not lee. 

in season 1, i killed lee

season 2 rolls around and honestly its kind of my least favorite season. the characters made me mad and it felt like my choices were weightless. but hold on, i think telltale actually did that on purpose. if season 1 is to show you that you need to preserve good and heart in order to fight in a horrible world, season 2 shows you how to fight in a horrible world--what you need to survive, who you need to be to gain allies, how to be strong. its purpose is to show you the underbelly of this nasty apocalypse, to show you that the world is shit and clementine had no choice but to grow up and catch up to speed with people four times her age. its not a happy season. pretty much everyone dies depending on your choices. as the player, there’s visibly no consequences to your actions: everyone’s an idiot and you’re the only competent one. there's no lee to watch you, no clementine to take care of. and that was done on purpose because that shit, as james put it, breaks you as a person. you don't come back from that. and she didn't. 

in season 2, i killed jane and went with kenny and refused to go into wellington without him

season 3 is everyone's least favorite and for that, screw yall because i loved season 3. season 3 introduces the character to the consequences of what we put clem through in season 2. it shows an outside perspective of who clementine has become, who she needed to be in order to survive. it introduces the concept of having a family and a group that stuck with you from the very beginning rather than finding people along the way--this created a new group dynamic that we haven't seen before in this game. it also introduces conflict for the player: as javi, the player has to juggle whats best for his literal blood family and having to earn clementine’s trust. its a hard thing to do. season 3 has incredible characters, concepts, and it does something new by having little to no walkers--if anything, it’s a character study on how people react to an apocalypse without actually being directly affected by the apocalypse in that moment. (id talk about this more--i literally debated whether or not i should talk about what i learned in my English class about pandemics lmfao--but this post would get too long and its one am). season 3 is the cementation of who you chose clementine to be. there's no changing clementine at this point. whats done is done. 

in season 3, i went out to look for aj rather than staying in Richmond 

season 4 is incredible. characters were the best they've ever been, the plot was amazing (if not a little too grandiose sometimes). season 4 is a direct homage to season one, except instead of having to protect a sweet girl in a zombie apocalypse by teaching her how to survive, its having to teach empathy to a boy who knows nothing but violence and survival. its brilliant, i don't even know what to say about this. aj is obviously an amazing addition to this game and i think its what telltales been leading up to this entire time (even with their shut down). the idea of having no adults for a base is brilliant since these kids don't have the hesitation and beliefs and feuds that adults have from their days of norm. i thought i would hate it but both of clementines love interests have no right being so amazing. honestly i would love to make a separate post about season 4 in order to break it down, but the gist is its amazing. its the perfect end for clementine as a character. 

in season 4, clem was romantically involved with and saved Louis 

twdg might be my second favorite game of all time? right under p5r. 

quick lists i wanted to make because i love making lists

favorite seasons

1. season 4 (but tomorrow this might change, since season 1 is just so brilliantly contained and simple and holds a lot of nostalgia for me)

2. season 1 

3. season 3

4. season 4

top four favorite characters

1. clementine (shes probably my favorite female fictional character of all time)

2. lee (truly, he is my second favorite comfort character next to ryuji, so do with that info what you will)

3. my main man louis (god i love him so so so much) 

4. javi (look i love him okay) 

thank you anon for giving me an outlet to yell about this amazing game!!! i could just talk about this game forever and ever because there is soo much to say about it

[aesthetic-survivor-of-twd]

Can you rank the season openings from best to worst? :) (By this i mean the first 15 minutes where it introduces the season and characters)

I literally went back and watched the exact first 15 mins of each season just to make this ranking fair lol. Before I begin: I just want to say that I don’t find ANY of the openings bad for the record. I’m just ranking based on my personal taste.

1) TWDG A New Frontier

You’re surprised this is number 1 and so am I.

Okay, so I have to be honest. I actually think the intro to ANF is perhaps one of the best scenes in that entire season.

We start off with an ENTIRELY new cast from what we’re used to and naturally the intro has to be something that will introduce this new protagonist to us as well as his family - which was stated before the season to be a major theme of A New Frontier.

We can’t just start off in the middle of the apocalypse with this new dude instead of Clem, because why the hell would we care about this man we know nothing about and know nothing about his life? so the season has to start off with an early establishing scene of both our protagonist and his associates and I thought it delivered it to us successfully. 

I like how it starts off with Javier running down the street almost out of breath and a phone call playing in the background. We don’t know wtf is going on but it sounds serious (is he being chased? is it set during the apocalypse? does the phone call mean it’s before it?). Right off the bat we see the first glimpse of the complex sibling dynamic between Javier and David. We learn that Javier is never really there for his family and that David is the older more “responsible” sibling that seemingly holds jealousy towards his younger brother and is shown to deal with his anger through violence. 

Then we see Kate who shows up and the first thing she does is go up and hug Javier, which makes sense given the situation. BUT then she notices the mark on his face and questions how he got it, to which before javi even says anything she looks at David in disgust before walking off with Javier into the house (clever way of showing Kate’s opinion of David early on).

We also see glimpses of Gabe and Mariana as young children. When Gabe comes out of the house and asks why Javi and David are fighting it’s Javier that’s the one who reassures him everything’s fine while David is the one who takes a jab at Javier instead and then tells Gabe to go inside. It’s only when Javier reassures him again that it’s fine and to go inside that Gabe seemingly debates doing it until David firmly says “Inside” in a stern manner.

The relationships in this opening are really interesting to see after playing the season because you pick up on the little interactions between them you don’t pay attention to until it’s a big focus in later episodes.

After that is some REALLY great editing to build up suspense for what we know is about to happen. Mariana mentions that the father/grandfather is “awake” to which it cuts to black and we get shots of Javier watching her make her way down the corridor to the room. Then it kicks up a notch in tension as we see it cut to black and the scene over and over again as the title shows up and all hell breaks loose with the walker trying to attack everyone.

And then at the end we see them all split up in the cars and by the time it fast forwards to the “present” we realize that they’ve been travelling together the entire time and David isn’t there.

It’s so goddamn cinematic and has such a great combination of tone, character establishment, relationships, setting and tension all within those 15mins.

Also something neat I didn’t notice until now was that Javier mentions to David when they are going to the car that the highway is blocked. Which implies that’s the reason he was running (and also that the reason is perhaps because of the outbreak).

2) TWDG SEASON 1

(Insert comment about nostalgia here)

In all seriousness, I was very torn between this and Season 2 as second place and I had almost kept it at 3rd place until I remembered back when the season first came out and how great this intro was for the time.

Before we all became accustomed to being dog piled by zombies in TWDG, that scene of the cop turning and jump scaring you was some good shit. You knew that as soon as that fucker crawled towards you and you had to quickly get the gun to shoot him that you were in for a ride with this series and it was gonna scare the absolute shit out of you.

One thing I really loved about this intro is how it starts off “normal” with you in a police car in handcuffs (which is an interesting way to start off a zombie apocalypse game, just saying) but as the cop is talking to you in the mirror, you can see that there’s clearly something "wrong” going on as ambulances start driving past and a helicopter flies by.

It’s a really cool bit of storytelling you don’t pay too much attention to at first. But it does really well in selling the idea that the world is going to shit before you even meet your first walker.

The last thing I love about it is also the scene of Lee wandering around the house and looking at everything. It’s a nice atmosphere that borders between calm and foreboding and it’s fucking great. It was a smart decision to let us get a feel for Clementine’s life before we actually meet her.

And that music, oh god that MUSIC.

3) TWDG SEASON 2

This opening is a good introduction to the tone of this season and what we should expect from Season 2.

First off, the opening begins with a flashback of Season 1 with our decisions as Lee. I actually find this to be quite appropriate as it’s a nice little send off as our time with Lee while also setting the player up with the responsibility of being Clementine now. It’s like a nice bridge from both stories, past to present (at the time).

I’m aware that Omid’s death scene is quite controversial amongst fans of the series, but as an opening I do think it works in setting up the tension between Christa and Clementine in the present day and a device that sets off the change in Clementine from a relatively innocent enough-ish girl (still) to someone more worn down from years on the road with her caretaker that now has a shaky relationship with her and is now clearly suffering from depression.

It’s really neat seeing her character model from S1 change to how it is in S2. It’s a great contrast and is done well.

All of the season openings are good, but I think this one is the best at establishing what we should expect from the rest of the season.

4) TWDG The Final Season

I LOVE this season. You all know it’s my favourite, and I’ve sang it high praises from it having the best character development in the series (yes more than S1 and i’ve even went into great depth about it) as well as having a beautiful conclusion that perfectly ends Clementine’s story.

I love this opening as well.

BUT, If I am to be objective like I have been with the previous openings, I have to be honest and say that as much as I love this intro, the first 15mins don’t exactly bring the same sense of tone or even continuation that the past openings have had.

The best thing about this opening is seeing the transformation of the game engine from what it had been in previous seasons to what it is now, as well as the establishing dynamic between Clementine and AJ - something that after 2 seasons we finally have a believable bond between them and can’t wait to see it flourish. 

If it comes down to personal preference in regards to what opening I love to watch over and over again, then it IS this opening. But, that’s mostly down to it being the most recent title and the adoration I still hold for this season. After playing through the entirety of TFS, this intro becomes better than what it was at the very start of the journey because you know how far these 2 have come and it’s wholesome knowing that they finally found that place where they belong.

In a way, it holds an entirely new meaning the second time around and I love it for that.