Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2016 1:43:36 GMT
Personally my opinions fluctuate so much that I can't really put them in a list so I rank them by tiers:
Tier 1: The Walking Dead: Season One, The Walking Dead: 400 Days, The Wolf Among Us, Tales from the Borderlands, Batman: The Enemy Within
Tier 2: Game of Thrones: Season One, The Walking Dead: Season Two, Batman: Season One
Tier 3: Minecraft: Story Mode - Season One, Guardians of the Galaxy
Tier 4: The Walking Dead: Michonne, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Two(temp)
Now, if I were a reviewer and it was my job to give scores, then I'd score them like this:
Tales from the Borderlands: 10/10 - Honestly, I have no real complaints. Loved the characters, it's hilarious, it has real heart, and there's not a single episode that isn't great.
Batman: The Enemy Within: 10/10 - A brutally emotional story of betrayal, poisonous legacy, flawed legends, and at the center of it all, a tragically doomed friendship between two complete opposites tied together as if by fate. This is one of the best Batman stories ever, absolutely the best Joker story ever, and one of my favorites Telltale Seasons. It has everything. Compelling characters, intense action, tragedy, humor, thematic depth, iconic performances... Everything about this season is just so insanely great, and it all builds to a story that taken as a whole, it honestly one of the most powerful stories I've ever experienced. I laughed, I cried, I gasped, I cheered. To even think of using that tired old trope of an "emotional rollercoaster" ever again after experiencing a story that seemed made for the phrase fills me with disgust. Batman: The Enemy Within honestly transcends being just a Batman story or just a Telltale story. It is some more, something real that truly touched me. I can only hope that this is a sign for a greater redemption for Telltale as a studio.
The Walking Dead: Season One: 9.5/10 - Tempted to say the emotional impact can help me overlook the one flaw I have with this season, but the fact is; I do think it's paced a bit too slowly. Not just in that it's almost a pain to replay now, but... honestly, Episode 1 isn't a great premiere, and Episode 4 just drags. It's the only flaw this season has, but it's still there.
The Walking Dead: 400 Days: 9.5/10 - With the hindsight of Season Two, I kind of want to lower my opinion of 400 Days, but the fact is that as a standalone episode, I still loved it. I just didn't love Shel's story as much as the others, which brings it down a half-point for me.
The Wolf Among Us: 9/10 - Yeah it has a whole list of flaws: obvious rewrites, not many likeable characters, the most interesting part is the sometimes problematic subtext that the series doesn't even engage with, etc. But the music, visual style, and my soft spot for neo-noir as a genre and Wolf's unique aesthetic bring it up to a 9 rather than an 8.5.
Game of Thrones: Season One: 8/10 - I really, really loved Telltale's GOT, even though a lot of people here thought it was above average at best. The only thing keeping it from a 9/10(the remaining 1 point missing simply because it just isn't quite Tier 1) is the traitor storyline. It's just a big black mark on an excellent season that is nevertheless worth a half-point reduction from the score I'd otherwise give it.
The Walking Dead: Season Two: 7/10 - Okay, so this season had a lot of problems. Kenny had too big a spotlight, Carver was wasted potential, the russians came out of nowhere, most choices didn't matter, poorly handled determinant characters, and for me personally, the theme(s) really rubbed me the wrong way. But for all of that, I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as people say it is. There's a lot of things that do work about it, a lot of really memorable scenes, some great character moments... I think it varies a lot for people, how much those flaws irk them, but for me, I still thought this was a legitimately great season, just with a lot of wasted potential that could have allowed it to be as good as if not better than the first season.
Batman: 7/10 - It's good. It's solid. Some things make it better than that: the villains, the motifs and themes throughout, some genuine originality when it comes to Batman, and some of the choices and how they're handled. Like GOT, it has one fatal flaw though. For Batman, it's how it decided to handle Harvey/Two Face. However, I'm bumping it by a half-point above what I'd otherwise give it because the finale is truly excellent. It became clear as it went on that it would never be tier 1 for me, but it's good enough, and a fairly solid foundation for something better.
Guardians of the Galaxy: 6.5/10 - The episodes on their own are a consistent 7/10 throughout, but taken as a whole it loses a half-point because I can't imagine how mind-numbingly slow the whole thing would play as without a two-month break between episodes. Seriously, this is the slowest paced Telltale Series to date, and it absolutely kills what is otherwise a good, solid Tier 2 Telltale Series. I mean, the choices are great and really impactful, the characters are deep and interact with each other in interesting ways, there are some good action scenes, and the overall story, music, dialogue, and all that is pretty solid. Aside from the god-awful art style, there's not much outwardly wrong with this series, it's just.... really bland. It never seems to add up to something, and that's really disappointing. Like Batman: Season One, it's got individual elements that are quite good, but it doesn't have any spark or heart to it. It's... also really, really fucking slow, which puts it below Batman.
Minecraft: Story Mode: 6/10 - There's nothing wrong with it. It's good. Good voice acting, entertaining, surprisingly good art direction at times, choices hold up well enough, it's occasionally funny. If I were a child, I'd probably love it. As an adult who is definitely not the target audience, it's entertaining enough for $5 an episode. It's good. Nothing more, nothing less.
The Walking Dead: Michonne: 2/10 - An astounding misfire. Bad all throughout. The only good thing was the art direction(Telltale's never had an issue there), and an entertaining villain(you know which villain I'm talking about). Flat voice acting, meaningless choices, terrible characters, a story that amounted to nothing, route action sequences... Just a failure on almost every level. Seriously, if not for the art direction and Randall, this wouldn't even warrant a 3/10 from me.
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier: 0/10 - For the record, 0/10 doesn't mean there's nothing good about it. Some choices were... well, they put effort into them. The art style and overall cinematography is honestly excellent, and Javier is a really great protagonist. Also, I didn't hate every single character like I did in Michonne. The 0/10 is mostly symbolic of the fact that this is the worst professionally written story I've ever had the displeasure of experiencing. I mean, nothing is coherent from episode to episode, it shits all over the previous two seasons, characters are flat and boring(Max, Badger, Jesus, Clint, that doctor guy, Ava), interesting but wildly inconsistent(David, Clementine, Eleanor, Conrad), or just flat-out irritating(Kate, Gabe). Only Javier and Tripp were actually enjoyable characters. The dialogue is either clunky or outwardly awful outside of some specific scenes(mostly the Javier flashbacks). And... I just... the writers... don't understand literary techniques? Like, do you even know how a fucking metaphor works? You don't just keep throwing in "war, soldier, something something army" because one of your characters in a veteran and then just hope it adds up to something meaningful. And some scenes are just fucking atrocious from beginning to end(most Clem flashbacks and pretty much any scene with Joan). Like... Jesus fucking Christ, what the hell went wrong? The only other thing I can possibly compare to this in terms of quality is like, maybe Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and that's not good company to have.
Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Two: 0/10 - This is a temporary score. But, if ever something deserved a symbolic 0 out of 10, it is this season, the first episode of which was so boring that I haven't played the rest of it even months after it concluded. I'll get around to it eventually I'm sure, but now, it remains here.
Tier 1: The Walking Dead: Season One, The Walking Dead: 400 Days, The Wolf Among Us, Tales from the Borderlands, Batman: The Enemy Within
Tier 2: Game of Thrones: Season One, The Walking Dead: Season Two, Batman: Season One
Tier 3: Minecraft: Story Mode - Season One, Guardians of the Galaxy
Tier 4: The Walking Dead: Michonne, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Two(temp)
Now, if I were a reviewer and it was my job to give scores, then I'd score them like this:
Tales from the Borderlands: 10/10 - Honestly, I have no real complaints. Loved the characters, it's hilarious, it has real heart, and there's not a single episode that isn't great.
Batman: The Enemy Within: 10/10 - A brutally emotional story of betrayal, poisonous legacy, flawed legends, and at the center of it all, a tragically doomed friendship between two complete opposites tied together as if by fate. This is one of the best Batman stories ever, absolutely the best Joker story ever, and one of my favorites Telltale Seasons. It has everything. Compelling characters, intense action, tragedy, humor, thematic depth, iconic performances... Everything about this season is just so insanely great, and it all builds to a story that taken as a whole, it honestly one of the most powerful stories I've ever experienced. I laughed, I cried, I gasped, I cheered. To even think of using that tired old trope of an "emotional rollercoaster" ever again after experiencing a story that seemed made for the phrase fills me with disgust. Batman: The Enemy Within honestly transcends being just a Batman story or just a Telltale story. It is some more, something real that truly touched me. I can only hope that this is a sign for a greater redemption for Telltale as a studio.
The Walking Dead: Season One: 9.5/10 - Tempted to say the emotional impact can help me overlook the one flaw I have with this season, but the fact is; I do think it's paced a bit too slowly. Not just in that it's almost a pain to replay now, but... honestly, Episode 1 isn't a great premiere, and Episode 4 just drags. It's the only flaw this season has, but it's still there.
The Walking Dead: 400 Days: 9.5/10 - With the hindsight of Season Two, I kind of want to lower my opinion of 400 Days, but the fact is that as a standalone episode, I still loved it. I just didn't love Shel's story as much as the others, which brings it down a half-point for me.
The Wolf Among Us: 9/10 - Yeah it has a whole list of flaws: obvious rewrites, not many likeable characters, the most interesting part is the sometimes problematic subtext that the series doesn't even engage with, etc. But the music, visual style, and my soft spot for neo-noir as a genre and Wolf's unique aesthetic bring it up to a 9 rather than an 8.5.
Game of Thrones: Season One: 8/10 - I really, really loved Telltale's GOT, even though a lot of people here thought it was above average at best. The only thing keeping it from a 9/10(the remaining 1 point missing simply because it just isn't quite Tier 1) is the traitor storyline. It's just a big black mark on an excellent season that is nevertheless worth a half-point reduction from the score I'd otherwise give it.
The Walking Dead: Season Two: 7/10 - Okay, so this season had a lot of problems. Kenny had too big a spotlight, Carver was wasted potential, the russians came out of nowhere, most choices didn't matter, poorly handled determinant characters, and for me personally, the theme(s) really rubbed me the wrong way. But for all of that, I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as people say it is. There's a lot of things that do work about it, a lot of really memorable scenes, some great character moments... I think it varies a lot for people, how much those flaws irk them, but for me, I still thought this was a legitimately great season, just with a lot of wasted potential that could have allowed it to be as good as if not better than the first season.
Batman: 7/10 - It's good. It's solid. Some things make it better than that: the villains, the motifs and themes throughout, some genuine originality when it comes to Batman, and some of the choices and how they're handled. Like GOT, it has one fatal flaw though. For Batman, it's how it decided to handle Harvey/Two Face. However, I'm bumping it by a half-point above what I'd otherwise give it because the finale is truly excellent. It became clear as it went on that it would never be tier 1 for me, but it's good enough, and a fairly solid foundation for something better.
Guardians of the Galaxy: 6.5/10 - The episodes on their own are a consistent 7/10 throughout, but taken as a whole it loses a half-point because I can't imagine how mind-numbingly slow the whole thing would play as without a two-month break between episodes. Seriously, this is the slowest paced Telltale Series to date, and it absolutely kills what is otherwise a good, solid Tier 2 Telltale Series. I mean, the choices are great and really impactful, the characters are deep and interact with each other in interesting ways, there are some good action scenes, and the overall story, music, dialogue, and all that is pretty solid. Aside from the god-awful art style, there's not much outwardly wrong with this series, it's just.... really bland. It never seems to add up to something, and that's really disappointing. Like Batman: Season One, it's got individual elements that are quite good, but it doesn't have any spark or heart to it. It's... also really, really fucking slow, which puts it below Batman.
Minecraft: Story Mode: 6/10 - There's nothing wrong with it. It's good. Good voice acting, entertaining, surprisingly good art direction at times, choices hold up well enough, it's occasionally funny. If I were a child, I'd probably love it. As an adult who is definitely not the target audience, it's entertaining enough for $5 an episode. It's good. Nothing more, nothing less.
The Walking Dead: Michonne: 2/10 - An astounding misfire. Bad all throughout. The only good thing was the art direction(Telltale's never had an issue there), and an entertaining villain(you know which villain I'm talking about). Flat voice acting, meaningless choices, terrible characters, a story that amounted to nothing, route action sequences... Just a failure on almost every level. Seriously, if not for the art direction and Randall, this wouldn't even warrant a 3/10 from me.
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier: 0/10 - For the record, 0/10 doesn't mean there's nothing good about it. Some choices were... well, they put effort into them. The art style and overall cinematography is honestly excellent, and Javier is a really great protagonist. Also, I didn't hate every single character like I did in Michonne. The 0/10 is mostly symbolic of the fact that this is the worst professionally written story I've ever had the displeasure of experiencing. I mean, nothing is coherent from episode to episode, it shits all over the previous two seasons, characters are flat and boring(Max, Badger, Jesus, Clint, that doctor guy, Ava), interesting but wildly inconsistent(David, Clementine, Eleanor, Conrad), or just flat-out irritating(Kate, Gabe). Only Javier and Tripp were actually enjoyable characters. The dialogue is either clunky or outwardly awful outside of some specific scenes(mostly the Javier flashbacks). And... I just... the writers... don't understand literary techniques? Like, do you even know how a fucking metaphor works? You don't just keep throwing in "war, soldier, something something army" because one of your characters in a veteran and then just hope it adds up to something meaningful. And some scenes are just fucking atrocious from beginning to end(most Clem flashbacks and pretty much any scene with Joan). Like... Jesus fucking Christ, what the hell went wrong? The only other thing I can possibly compare to this in terms of quality is like, maybe Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and that's not good company to have.
Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Two: 0/10 - This is a temporary score. But, if ever something deserved a symbolic 0 out of 10, it is this season, the first episode of which was so boring that I haven't played the rest of it even months after it concluded. I'll get around to it eventually I'm sure, but now, it remains here.
/10 Fuck Minecraft Story Mode. I don't care about it. It could be heavenly, or it could be garbage, and I would never know. I just simply have 0 interest in it.
Happy 10th Anniversary to The Walking Dead Game 
