The Walking Dead: The Final Season (Episode 1)

I knew it was coming, but it surprised me to find out that the last season of Telltale’s The Walking Dead was upon us. I guess I never really paid attention to the release date. I hurriedly picked up my copy of episode one of this four episode final season, and played through it ASAP. We’re seeing Clementine’s journey come to an end, and there was a beautifully rendered introduction that allowed us to relive key parts of that journey. It’s been four separate games and a number of years since this adventure began, and though I am sad to see it beginning to come to a close, it will be interesting to see where this little girl turned fierce woman ends up. Picking up where The New Frontier left off, Clementine had been reunited with AJ once again and were back on the road. Our story follows them scavenge for food when of course they come across trouble. They end up in a school run by kids and find a rather tight knit group — though something doesn’t seem quite right.

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The graphical engine is a bit more refined than I remember in the last season, but for the most part the game plays the same as others. I felt like there were more action oriented combat sections, but there were plenty of slow dialogue-filled scenes as well. I won’t completely spoil things but the results of my season will. You should probably avoid the next screens and my reasoning to follow if you haven’t played this game yet.

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The major choices in this episode were varied. I chose to kill the couple in the train station to get the key off of one of them (they were both walkers at this point, when they were still people they poisoned themselves). Otherwise I could have chosen to send AJ into the room behind the locked door, but I didn’t want to send him on his own. I was with the majority of players on this. I didn’t go with the crowd on the next choice, which was whether to hunt with Aasim or Louis. Louis seemed to try to hard to throw himself at Clem so I went the other way. During our first night at the school AJ insisted that he sleep under the bed. I told him he didn’t have to but he begged so I let him. Looks like most people convinced him to try the bed (side note, he sleeps in bed on the second night). Later, we go back to the same train station where shit went awry the first time around, and Clem is confronted by a raider who wants the same food we had come for. I chose to push his ass out the window for walkers to feed on. Fuck that guy. Lastly, during the final confrontation with Marlon, I chose to petition Violet to help me out, and she came to my aid. AJ took matters into his own hands, though.

This season was different from all of those that came before in that there were some missable trophies and I didn’t realize that until I completed the chapter. There are a few collectable items, and certain dialogue choices that lead to trophies that I missed. As disappointing as it would be to have all the Platinum trophies for this series and miss out on this one, I’m not sure I want to go back and play through to find them all. I suppose if I do I will do so before the next episode releases so that I can be more mindful of this the rest of the way through. Either way I enjoyed the episode and The Walking Dead is still my favorite of Telltale’s series. Let me know if how your episode ended up, if you’ve played.

A New Frontier Episode 5

This week marks the completion of the latest Walking Dead series from Telltale. Regulars will know that I have a mixed relationship with the company, in that I have loved some of their series, but I have become a bit burnt out on the gameplay style as a whole. I couldn’t help but want to see what happened next with Clementine and some of the various characters from the lore who have dotted the series, so I did pick up what could be called “Season 3.” This episode is the conclusion of that series, and as usual, we get to examine our choices made throughout the episode. This time around the concluding episode came with some other interesting stats that I hadn’t seen in other series from Telltale, and I’d like to share my personal results as well. To get things started, here’s the traditional ending screen with the choices from episode 5:

It seems that in most cases, players had similar responses to me. I’m surprised that less people fessed up to being into Kate, and that less people had Clementine stay around. I have treated Clem with the utmost respect throughout the series, and watching her grow has been fascinating. Regardless, the stats are interesting. What was even better was all of the additional information they added in subsequent screens:

I’m curious what the different results are and despite the fact that I know I could probably Google that shit, I’m not going to. If you have played the game and would like to share your experienced results, comments are open. I ended the game having had a Dysfunctional relationship with my brother. It’s not as if the game didn’t already set that up to be the case, but apparently I kept that dysfunction going. I tried to walk the line with him, but by the end he had proven to be an asshole and died anyway. So I guess the result doesn’t matter all that much in my case, but perhaps other endings exist where he lives. I see in the main header graphic that I used it appears that Kate is a zombie, so perhaps things could have swung another way.

I’m not sure how I ended up with Mixed Signals for Kate. Honestly, I poured it on thick with her while the game was just getting started, and later on I did things as politically correct as possible to avoid tensions with David, up until the point where I finally had to confess, but they were on the road together for years raising kids that weren’t theirs… I don’t know anyone in that situation who wouldn’t have done the same. It’s no different than Rick’s Wife and Shane really, it was the “once the secret’s out” bit that unfolded differently.

Really curious to know how else Clem could have turned out, but I’m proud to have had this effect on her development. The end of the game presented us with a single sentence: “Clementine will Return” or something with similar sentiment, so I think we’ll see another season eventually. How this could affect future developments of the story could be sweeping, but with these sort of curated experiences, I doubt it will be so exaggerated. Perhaps though, these stats will affect something on a grander scale. Time will tell I suppose.

This episode also came with a handy body count, for your reference:

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Again, I’m curious to see what others got for their results. If you happen to have played through the game, drop something in the comments!

TWD A New Frontier Episode 3

The most recent chapter of the newest Walking Dead series from TellTale Games released this past week and I took an evening at home to play through it. I must say, I love the way cameos from the show and comics appear through the series. One season we saw a glimpse of Glen, Michonne got her own spin off series, and now we have Jesus making his own appearance. It also feels that the game has matured, and I don’t just mean because it has graphic elements, but moreso in the story telling itself. It feels wretched when the bad things and the tough choices come about, but there is that sense of following your own personal instincts in guiding the story. I grew tired of the same ol’ formula with TellTale games, just like I did with the same old Call of Duty every year, but because of my deep investment into this series (comics, show, multiple games) I still enjoy this one. It’s of particular note, and I’m not sure if I mentioned it in my last post about the new series, but the game runs much better on a PS4 compared to the first seasons on the PS3. I’m sure PC users don’t have this issue. I chose to stay on console because I played the originals on console. But I digress.

I’m sure that you can infer just from the choices above that there was some difficulty in what to do throughout episode 3. It seems that choices were fairly evenly split if you consider that only two were very far from center. I don’t want to spoil anything further, but just wanted to share some thoughts on my continued playthrough of the game.

TV Time #2

During last year’s Blaugust I decided to dedicate a whole post to what I had been watching on TV, be it live, via the DVR or through streaming services like Netflix and HBO GO. Though I have touched on things that I’ve been watching via this blog or on Twitter throughout the year since that last post, I thought it would be interesting enough to write about again. Bear with me, there’s going to be quite a few shows on this list, though I will try to keep my descriptions mostly spoiler free.

As I have mentioned in the past, the majority of the shows I watch on television are on the AMC and FX networks, though I have been watching more shows that are on HBO, due to having access to their streaming service, allowing me to catch up on things I missed, or keep up on new shows without having to set the DVR. Netflix has also fully committed to their own original programming, releasing full seasons all at once with instantly lends itself to binge watching — this just so happens to appeal to me. So what am I currently watching?

Halt and Catch Fire – AMC

I spoke briefly about Halt and Catch Fire in that post I linked above. The first season was the origin story of these characters, and how they came to be intertwined. Season two (which just had it’s finale last night) centers around Cameron and Donna (the two women pictured above) and their company, Mutiny. Joe, (picture at far right) has parted ways with Cardiff, as has Gordon (left) and are trying to sort out what to do with their lives. The birth of multiplayer gaming over the Internet along with chat rooms are on clear display throughout season two. I love the retro tech industry tidbits present in the show, along with the real world issues that all of the characters have to deal with. It feels very true to the source material, though I was only alive for 8 years during the 1980’s, so my memory of them is a bit hazy. Still, I recommend this show to anyone who has ever loved tech, be it the hardware, the software, or even just the Internet itself.

Humans – AMC

Humans is a new show that turned up on the network this summer. It is apparently a British TV show that has been ported over to the States. It has a very I, Robot feel to it, albeit with very little action. For the most part it is just centered around the interactions between real humans and “Synths” which are machines that are designed to look just like us, but have the Asimov laws programmed in. Some of the synths are different than others however, as one family begins to discover. The side story revolves around this particular synth and the rest of her “family” — synths given consciousness via their creator, who is now dead. As the storyline has progressed, it appears that more of these synths are present in the world than we know of, but not all has been revealed just yet. As with most AMC shows, if you missed this one, look for it to turn up on Netflix eventually.

Hell on Wheels – AMC

Another show I have been watching since the beginning, Hell on Wheels recently entered its fifth season. It is still based on Cullen’s mishaps while trying to reach the west coast with the trans-continental railroad, though now he works for a different rail company, and is trying to win the race over his former company. The main point of contention now is the Chinese workers, and Cullen’s own issues surrounding the disappearance of his Wife and Child, who were last seen with the Mormons. An old nemesis rears his head, and of course Cullen butts heads with new people in new areas as the railroad continues to move forward. I’m not much for Westerns, but I can’t get enough of this show.

The Making of the Mob: New York – AMC

This new show on AMC is actually a mini-series, in that there shouldn’t be new seasons beyond this one, unless they decide to jump to other areas of the world (I.E. “The Making of the Mob: ____”). The Making of the Mob: New York centers around a handful of Italian and Jewish immigrants who rise from lowly street urchins to criminal kingpins. Every Mafia movie you’ve ever seen, every Sopranos or Boardwalk Empire like show either centers around or has referenced these men, who really lived and died as mobsters. You’ll recognize the names. You probably even already know the story. But the way this show is put together keeps things interesting. Ray Liotta narrates while various actors who are portraying these mafioso act out the life long story of these men. It’s fantastic television, in my humble opinion.

The Strain – FX

The Strain started out last summer with a bang. A cross between a zombie apocalypse and a series about vampires, it was right up my alley. This season looks to be more of the same, with more details being discovered about the Master, creator of all of these zompires, and the backstory between “the Jew” and the Nazis/Master unravels some of the mystery of the present day nightmare. I’m actually behind on a couple of episodes due to recording conflicts (stupid older DVRs not being able to record enough shows at once), but so far it has held my interest just as well as it did last year. If you haven’t watched this show yet (and aren’t squeamish) do yourself a favor!

Defiance – SyFy

Defiance is sort of a guilty pleasure of mine. When the series started I only knew it as the TV tie-in to the MMO, and I had actually purchased the MMO during a sale. Then it went free to play, and I lamented the loss of my $5. The game wasn’t really my cup-o-tea, but it did get me interested in the TV show, so I went back and watched the first season. I watched the second season last year and still enjoyed it. This year, I’m watching the third season and have come to realize a couple of things. 1. The show is pretty damn hokey. The acting is good at times, sub-par at others. 2. The effects can be great, or terrible. This is typical of TV shows, but I don’t understand the lack of continuity between scenes. It appears that scenes that are fully CGI look better than those that only have a little CGI in them. The storyline is fairly similar to other science fiction shows I’ve watch in the past, though it refreshing to have a post apocalyptic world that isn’t infested by some sort of other-worldy creature, and is instead populated by aliens (who by proxy are partially responsible for the current state of the world). The aliens are all just humanoids though, so it lacks the creativity of some of the better Sci-Fi shows out there. Either way, I’ll continue to watch this show til it ends most likely.

Ballers – HBO

I happened to catch preview for both this show and the next one I’m going to talk about while watching Game of Thrones earlier in the year. The Rock isn’t necessarily a go-to actor for me, but the appeal of this show was in being able to take a peek into the lives of football players, however dramatized this might be. Ballers centers around Dwayne Johnson’s character, who is a retired pro football player, and is now working as an agent for new players. He spends most of his time trying to maintain relationships his clients, working through his own issues with potential brain damage, and bailing people out of trouble. There really isn’t much else to it, but I’ve rather enjoyed the show so far.

The Brink – HBO

As I mentioned, previews for this show were floating around back when Game of Thrones was on air. This one is about current day political climates, with Jack Black starring along with a host of other actors you’ll recognize. Black plays the part of an employee at a US Embassy in Pakistan, while a slew other other characters intertwine in political scandal. It’s light-hearted and fun, and I’d recommend it to fans of this type of satire.

True Detective – HBO

I didn’t see the first season of True Detective when it aired, but as I have said, HBO GO is great for catching up on stuff you may have missed. I ended up watching it on a whim, as generally speaking I find Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey to be good actors. The plot was solid, the acting was great, and I was sold. I wasn’t aware however, that the show was designed in the same way as say American Horror Story, where each new season focused on a whole new storyline. I was expecting a continuation of the first season, and instead we get Colin Farrel and Vince Vaughn taking part in a whole new tale. First off, I have to say that this season started very slow, but it has picked up and become more exciting. Secondly, it’s refreshing to see Mr Vaughn in something other than a comedy. He’s actually a pretty good actor, despite being in some shitty movies in the past. It’s been good stuff, I recommend it.

That’s what I’ve been watching as of late. There have been quite a few new and recurring shows that have already ended for the year though, so I thought I’d share those as well:

Game of Thones – HBO

Of course I watched season 5 of Game of Thrones. I am anxiously awaiting season 6, which is supposedly going to be the last season, but we shall see. Having never read the books, I’m not sure where this season ends up where the narrative is concerned, but I can attest that I haven’t been nearly as offended by additions or subtractions to the story line as the book followers have been. Nor do I take issue with the graphic nature of the show. I knew what I was getting into as soon as I started watching the show, and I understand the concept of spectacle fueled viewership. Regardless of your feelings on the issue, one thing GoT does is gets people talking, and that’s never a bad thing (even if we’re talking about bad things).

Silicon Valley – HBO

Silicon Valley started up last year but I wasn’t paying attention. I noticed that it was on after GoT this year though, and so I went back and watched the first season, then kept up with the second. The story follows one man’s life, where he works for a huge company (that feels a lot like Google or Apple) and ends up creating a program or algorithm (I can’t remember which) that allows for compression that is outrageous and great for streaming. This leads to him creating a startup, where an oddball cast of characters helps him to live the dream. Hilarity ensues. If you’re interested in tech, startups and like goofy friend comedy, this one will be up your alley.

Turn – AMC

Turn is another show that started last year, and that I continued watching this year. It’s a historical piece (though the accuracy could be debatable) following the story of one man who gets involved in a spy ring. He’s on America’s side, but the British occupation and Revolutionary War are taking place, so being caught as a spy would get you killed. He walks a thin line between his spy games and pretending to be in service to the British, and though it’s playing on patriotism that only Americans will appreciate, it still tells a great tale.

Better Call Saul – AMC

A spinoff of the ridiculously popular Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul failed to hook me until a few episodes in. I suppose I was expecting something more akin to Breaking Bad, but in the end this is a show that is only loosely related. The main character Saul was lawyer to the main character from BB, but this is his origin tale. He starts from humble beginnings, uses his backhanded nature to get ahead, and starts to build a reputation as a first class lawyer. How this will eventually lead to him meeting Walter White and becoming the lawyer to criminal kingpins remains to be seen, but rest assured I’ll continue to watch it.

I also wanted to take a look at some upcoming shows that I’m looking forward to:

Fear The Walking Dead – AMC

I know, I know. There’s already a Walking Dead TV show, so why does there need to be another? That was my immediate reaction when I first heard about this “companion show.” Apparently the only difference between Fear The Walking Dead and the original The Walking Dead is that it takes place in Los Angeles, and centers around different people during the same zombie apocalypse. Being the sucker for zombie stuff that I am, I will be checking this out later this month, but I’m still waiting with baited breath. I have low expectations, so perhaps they will be met. But I don’t see this show being better than the original.

The Walking Dead – AMC

Speaking of The Walking Dead, seaons 6 returns this October. Some familiar faces have turned back up, and there looks to be more conflict happening within the new compound the group has found themselves in. This is bar-none my favorite show on TV, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. The key is that it’s not really about the zombies, but about the human confrontation that I so regularly talk about. I love the drama, even if it’s sometimes needless (though less so since Lori kicked the bucket).

American Horror Story: Hotel – FX

American Horror Story and I have a strange relationship. I have watched every episode to date, though I have become less and less thrilled with the show in the past couple of years. I love the fact that the same actors come back year after year, though they all play different roles and each season is based on a different horror tale. However, after the murder house and asylum seasons, things have gone down hill. I wasn’t thrilled with Coven. I disliked Freak Show altogether despite watching the whole thing. I was prepared to write the series off, but Hotel sounds like it’s ripe for horror, and I’m going to give it another shot. I just hope it turns out better than the last couple of seasons.

Fargo – FX

I watched the first season of Fargo last year and loved it. I hadn’t seen the movie, but I understand that it’s based off of that, which is in turn based off supposed real world events that happened in Minnesota. Either way, the actor who played Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit movies and Billy Bob Thornton put on a great show. From what I have read the show has found a new Fall time slot, and this season is supposed to take place further in the past, detailing other bits and pieces of the backstory. So I don’t know what to expect but I hope it’s as good as the first season.

The Bastard Executioner – FX

The only things I know about The Bastard Executioner is that it’s written by Curt Sutter, who also wrote and starred in Sons of Anarchy. I enjoyed the hell out of that show, so I assume this will be entertaining as well. Curt is in this show, along with his wife, Katie Sagal, and it’s set in medieval times. It’s set to show up this fall as well, so I’m going to give it a whirl and will report back on it at a future date.

Now that I’m nearly 3,000 words, I think I’ll count this post as done. If you made it this far without skipping anything, I congratulate you. Oh, and check out Blaugust over on Anook.

#television #roundup

State of the Game: Playing & Watching

Another week down, more stuff played and watched. I mostly have blurbs this time around, because I spent the majority of the week playing League of Legends. I did play some other stuff as well as keeping up on TV shows so let’s jump right in.

League of Legends

I played a shit ton of League as I said. I mostly played ARAM, but did get some team builder matches in as well. As a result, I earned my support icon from the mode. I did end up buying one new champion, as I hit 4800 IP. Riot has been keeping up with their policy of dropping one champ from the 6300 tier down to the 4800 tier each time a new one releases, so there were some extra options. I was tempted to just continue saving until I hit 6300, but I ended up purchasing Fizz. I haven’t played him a whole lot, but in ARAMs where I got him (due to being in the free rotation) I did fairly well. Plus my end goal is to eventually own them all, so add one more to the pile. I believe at this point I still have 36 to collect. Meaning I own like 70-something. Not bad, but considering the amount of years I’ve played the game you’d think I’d have more. I had a rather good performance with Janna within the last few days, so I’ll just leave this here:

I have been keeping up on the World Championship matches. This weekend I watched Samsung White utterly DESTROY Samsung Blue in the first semi-finals match on Saturday (early – 1 am) morning. Going 3-0, SSW will be representing Korea in the Finals. This morning I watched OMG and Royal Club as well; it was a better series, but RC advance to the finals for their second year in a row after a 3-2 victory. This will be the second year in a row we see a China vs. Korea final, with RC falling to SKT T1 last year. With the performances this week, I’m feeling pretty positive that Korea will take it all in the end, again.

Other PC Games

I gave a rundown of the newest Alpha build for The Forest along with some screens of a recent playthrough in this post.

I played some Starcraft II over the course of the week, finishing up a few more missions. I believe I am nearing the end of the Terran campaign, though it’s interesting the amount of missions you get to play the Protoss. Their missions help to break up the monotony of playing only one race for so long. I like the Terrans quite a bit more in SC2 than I did in the original. I didn’t like the Zerg all that much when I tried them in multiplayer, but I know that when I get to know them again in the campaign I’ll probably be back to loving them. I’m hoping to complete the first campaign within the next week or so.

I hadn’t touched Orcs Must Die in months (since I purchased really), but not so long ago I was gifted a copy of the sequel by Welshtroll and decided it was time I beat the first game so I could move on to the second. I played quite a bit yesterday, completing a handful of missions. I have a handful of levels left to beat, but also have expansion content because I bought the complete pack so I’m not sure how much I really have yet to do. Either way the game is fun for short bursts, or longer sessions. Hopefully by this time next week I’ll be ready for the 2nd game. I’m steadily moving through my backlog, despite not being able to focus on one game at a time 😛 The last mission I completed was pretty straight forward, but the one I’m on now where they introduce “the pounder,” is completely unfair. I failed twice, so I gave it a rest.

Bring on the horde!

The Path of Exile event played out on Saturday. I was a little late to the group so I had to sit out for a little while. I played my Witch solo for a bit, and hit level 23 (I could have sworn she was a bit higher level than that). When I joined in with the group, I played a Ranger I had created previously but hadn’t used much. It worked out as everyone had created new characters and they were about level 6 at that point which was the same level as said Ranger. We played for a couple more hours and I leveled that Ranger from 6 – 14. I got to experience some of the newer content in that the boss battles were more intense, but also had some new instances/events added in from one of the expansions. I didn’t take any screens… I don’t know why I keep forgetting.

The past week’s flash game for Bragtoberfest was called Axon. Initially Doone posted a laughable score, and I beat that rather quickly, posting one around 25k. Next thing I knew Jeromai made a post where she had hit 66k, completely blowing my score out of the water. I commented there that I was done… but then I decided to take another stab at it.

I think I get to take crown now. Challengers? pic.twitter.com/hOeYPfZ6xs

— Izlain O’Lantern (@mevsmyselfandi) October 9, 2014

It didn’t take long for Murf to answer back at over 98k, and then Jeromai iced it with 108k. Now, I’m officially done. Next week’s challenge might play out differently.

Playstation Plus

I totally skipped over doing my typical Playstation Plus post. It was mentioned a few times in my circle so I just let it ride. I did dive into the games though, beating Chronicles of Mystara in one sitting. It was ok, but would have cost a fortune in the arcade where it originated. Those games were purposely designed to rob you of your lunch money. I played some Spelunky as well, and though it’s fun it doesn’t seem to have anything going for it as far as using it in Bragtoberfest. Maybe the daily challenges? sort of unsure about that. Giving us Batman Arkham Asylum seemed dumb. They already gave us Arkham City (the sequel, which I never played). Would have made more sense to give us Arkham Origins, but either way I’ve already beaten Asylum so that’s lame.

On TV

Hell on Wheels – took a mid season break, not sure why AMC is so fond of doing this. Been good so far, lots of intense scenes between the new governor and the main character. Was shocked that Common’s character was still alive but he was not himself after indians nursed him back to health. Sad that he had to be put down.

Boardwalk Empire – final season has been slow moving, but the weird part is the fact that they keep delving into Nucky’s past.. like why didn’t they care to do that in the first 3 seasons? Watching Capone be an idiot is fun, I love the actor playing him, as he was good ol’ Tommy in Snatch and that’s one of my favs.

The Strain – Season finale just happened, sorry to say that the “master” got away. Crazy that he could withstand direct sunlight, didn’t see that coming. Great show, can’t wait for next season.

Sons of Anarchy – Shit is getting really thick. Not only is there a huge gang war brewing between the bikers, the chinese, the mexicans and the blacks, it seems that Jax has played all ends against the middle. This is typical for SOA, there’s always these backhanded deals going on, but it’s hard to keep up with who is doing what. Then Gemma is “taking Juice out of town to safety” and he catches on that she’s gonna try to kill him. He looked like he might kill her. Sad thing is that he’s in the shitstorm for doing things for Jax and for her… yet they want him dead. No idea where this is going, but oh yes, there will be blood.

American Horror Story – I can already tell that this season is going to be much better than the last. For whatever reason I couldn’t get into Coven, but Freak Show has already started off great. The special effects for all the freaks (though I think some bits of that isn’t special effects) are great (particularly the two headed main character). The creepy factor of the serial killing clown.. man it’s gonna be a good season.

The Walking Dead starts later today. I cannot wait. When we left off, the crew had just made it to Terminus, and the consensus among fans is that they are cannibals. This wouldn’t be the first time the subject had been broached in the walking dead universe (season 1 of the game had a nice little farm with em). With the crew locked up in a train car, who knows how they’re going to bust out. But Rick didn’t look too happy going in there. He’ll be back with a vengeance.

So that’s about all I have for this week’s edition. 1.5k words later, I’m spent.

#stateofthegame #roundup