Telltale’s The Walking Dead Season Two Fixes.

Telltale’s The Walking Dead Season Two had so much potential. Unfortunately, Kenny, while my favorite character in the entire franchise, completely dominated the story. Everything revolved around him and Clem.

The biggest losses were Sarah and Nick. Both had so much potential. We can teach Sarah to shoot but it means absolutely nothing. We can save Nick indirectly in episode two, but again, it means absolutely nothing. Both choices should’ve had some impact on the story.

Here’s what they should’ve done:

1. Have a friendship meter for Sarah. Bonding with her increases it, scolding/being mean to her lowers it, leaving her alone just lets it stay neutral.

2. During her first death, if we don’t convince her to leave and Nick is still alive, she’s saved by him but at the cost of being devoured. If we save her, Nick can die helping her during her second death. If he’s dead by episode 2, she dies no matter what. Alternatively, we can mercy kill Sarah under the belief we can’t save her (which is true if Nick is already dead), leading to Nick’s survival.

3. They can both die at the deck if we don’t help at all, leading to both being devoured.

Here’s where it would diverge.

Sarah

1. Nick dies saving her and she survives into episode 5.

2. She can die during the ambush by having a panic attack and simply standing there. We have to guide her to safety or she gets shot in the head.

3. Luke and Jane bring up going back to Howe’s, where everyone could be dead and they know there are supplies. She says she wants to go to Wellington due to fear and not wanting to see her dead dad.

4. We can convince her to go back if our friendship is high enough and use the correct response (Wellington might also be bad, not even be real, etc.)

5. During the night, when Mike and Arvo (and a potential Bonnie) try and steal everything, Sarah wakes us up and will go with us if our friendship is high enough. If we taught her how to shoot, she kills Mike, then Arvo shoots Clem. If we didn’t, she misses.

6. After the car crash, she’ll be separated by the storm, that way we can still get the alone ending.

7. If she ends up at Wellington (we find her on the way), she either goes in or stays with us depending on our friendship level.

Here’s what she could’ve said for each.

Stay with Clem and Kenny (Friend Ending):

Sarah: Clementine…. You’ve been a real good friend to me ever since we met. You didn’t lie to me about the world; you taught me how to shoot; you came to my rescue when Becca and those other kids started bullying me; and to top it all off, you saved my life so many times! If I left you now, if I left you EVER!!, then I wouldn’t be a good friend. I don’t know if I can ever be as strong as you, or as good a friend, but….. I think I can be….. if you show me how.

Sarah goes into Wellington: (Not a Friend Ending):

Sarah: Clementine…. You were never a good friend to me. You were mean the moment you saw me. You threatened me to not say anything, as if you would’ve hurt me. You never talked to me, just rolled your eyes whenever I talked to you. You didn’t help me when Becca and the other kids started bullying me. When my dad…. when he… when he died…. you didn’t seem to care at all, just told me to get over it. And when I got trapped in that trailer, all you did to help me out of it was slap me in the face, otherwise you would’ve left me like Luke and Jane wanted. I’m sorry, but….. if you don’t wanna be a good friend to me….. then I don’t wanna be one to you. Goodbye, Clementine.

8. If we convinced her to go to Howe’s, we find her zombified father (too damaged to move). We can either leave him, put him down, or convince her to do it.

9. I can’t see her being a badass survivor like Clem, but I *can* see her as a doctor.

Nick

1. Nick is disgusted at us for killing Sarah.

2. He can die during the ambush if we don’t lay down cover fire.

3. He’ll say he wants to go back to Howe’s, but can be convinced to go to Wellington by saying how Howe’s could still filled with Walkers and hostile humans, as well as any supplies being already looted/destroyed; we also need to reconcile with him over killing Sarah, telling him we believe we had no chance to save her and didn’t want her to suffer.

4. When Mike and Arvo (and Bonnie if she’s alive) try to steal the car, Nick will always kill Arvo after he shoots Clem.

5. Nick will leave with Kenny if he went to Wellington and we go in, agreeing the kids should have a happier and safer life.

6. If he ends up at Howe’s, he puts down Carlos himself while apologizing for not being able to save Sarah.

If we went to the opposite place for each of them, they still end up there, only alone. Sarah will get into Wellington thanks to Enid’s soft spot for kids (especially the crying Sarah), Nick won’t and will leave for parts unknown. At Howe’s, both will simply sit and wait for Clem, while also meeting that family at the end.

We can also still choose to head back to Wellington or Howe’s if we leave Kenny/Jane, letting us end the season with just Sarah/Nick alive. We can still get into Wellington thanks to being kids and telling Enid how every adult died to get them there, and Nick will take Kenny’s place telling her to go in, thinking he’s too incompetent to take care of two kids. The Howe’s ending remains pretty much same, just without Jane.

Kenny will still always go to Wellington and Jane to Howe’s, but only with Clementine and A.J..

We can still get the alone ending if desired.

The game also lacked meaningful interaction with most of the cast, mainly Sarah and Nick. The moment Kenny was reintroduced, everyone else took a backseat. They became props to be killed off. Kenny, while phenomenal (my favorite character in the franchise), also stole the show and Clem’s attention.

Episode Two:

Have us talk to Sarah longer while the adults look for Nick, ask about her missing mother, the group, and answer some of her questions. Show her our stitching and she comments on it, showing off knowledge of basic first aid.

Have us offer to take Sarah to look for supplies in Matthew’s place after Nick shoots him, with her collecting childish things (recreational and coloring books instead of survival ones, toys, make-up) instead of survival stuff to show off her immaturity. Give us the option to berate her, agree with her on the stuff, or inform her gently on what she should’ve looked for, affecting our friendship meter.

Episode Three:

Have a scene in episode three where we see her being bullied by a group of teens (led by Becca if she’s there, a generic bully if she isn’t). We’re tasked with practicing killing Walkers (maybe even kid ones, one of whom Sarah can recognize as a former resident and possible bully, since she didn’t seem to have any friends).

We excel, earning praise from the adults watching (the other kids getting jealous of Clem and sabotaging us), while Sarah fails miserably. We save her at the end from a Walker, but she pees herself out of fear and loses her glasses, being left crying in the fetal position. The other kids bully her, with Becca breaking her glasses (either stomping on them to break lens or snapping them in half) and calling her a baby, and we get the choice to fight them, take Sarah back to the others, or leave her to them and go somewhere else when ordered by Troy.

If we fight them, we can end up on top of Becca and knock several of her teeth out, because fuck Becca. Depending on what we do or how bad we beat her, Shel will give our group more or less food, perhaps even none, or spit in it (or something more disgusting, like a used tampon out of outrage for her sister’s severe injuries).

Carver will praise us either way we deal with Becca (less so if we lost, but he’ll still approve since we stood up to someone/several people much older and bigger than her), since he views Becca as weak, only getting by due to her overachieving sister and only going after Sarah (who he also hates for being the weakest person there in his opinion), who’s even weaker, only because she’s not strong enough to do anything else. If we beat her, he’s impressed an 11 year old could beat someone (and her friends) who’s almost 18, if we just leave, he’s impressed we kept a cool head.

Episode Four:

For episode four, if we were a good enough friend, she’s more aware of the situation instead of spacing out and shutting down, retreating into a fantasy of her dad still being alive, telling them what they need for Rebecca’s pregnancy. We can take her with us to look for stuff and talk to her if we’re good enough friends, trying to comfort her about her father, telling her how Clem lost her own parents at the beginning.

Episode Five:

If she’s alive in episode five, then we talk to her about her father and the group dying one by one. We let her hold the baby. We can take a drink with her along with the adults to help her calm down and as a show of friendship.

In order to get Nick/Sarah to change their destination (if one survives) they have to have a good relationship with Clementine and hear a good argument against their original destination.