Episode 4: Amid The Ruins Review

Comes out at midnight PST today!

For you PC users, perhaps. Unfortunately for us Xbox users, we're going to have to bite the bullet and wait the extra day. Regardless, I hope all of those who do have access to it today enjoy the episode.

I was gonna come here and rant about how this is just misery porn when the zombie baby scene happened....

...but it didn't! I loved this episode. By FAAAAAAAAAAR the best episode of Season 2. My only complaint was that we were not given enough time to choose dialogue this time around. I literally had to pause 80% of the time so I could process all of them

Also, I never expected not cutting off the arm would be the good choice. I think the stats they chose to display were pretty weird, too. There are others I would've liked to see

I wish we got the option to kill Arvo, though. That would've been a tough choice...and I totally would've done it. I knew that bastard was lying about his sister. I'd take his meds again if I could

Obligatory...

I was gonna come here and rant about how this is just misery porn when the zombie baby scene happened....

...but it didn't! I loved this episode. By FAAAAAAAAAAR the best episode of Season 2. My only complaint was that we were not given enough time to choose dialogue this time around. I literally had to pause 80% of the time so I could process all of them

Also, I never expected not cutting off the arm would be the good choice. I think the stats they chose to display were pretty weird, too. There are others I would've liked to see

I wish we got the option to kill Arvo, though. That would've been a tough choice...and I totally would've done it. I knew that bastard was lying about his sister. I'd take his meds again if I could

The dialogue did feel rushed, I had to pause a bunch of times too. Awesome ending though. Just curious did anything significant happen because you took the meds? I didn't take them.

Nah. I got to give the pills to Rebecca and she was really thankful, though. She called me her favorite person in the world (though it doesn't really matter since she's dead now). Luke was kind of pissed about it, though

What the hell at this ending. I'm in shock. I chose to shoot Rebecca. How does it end if you don't shoot her? 

Nah. I got to give the pills to Rebecca and she was really thankful, though. She called me her favorite person in the world (though it doesn't really matter since she's dead now). Luke was kind of pissed about it, though

I didn't take the meds, but the game acted like I did, anyway.  Arvo told the others that Clementine had robbed him.

You know, Nick and Sarah were treated pretty shitty this episode. Their deaths were complete afterthoughts and NOBODY gave a shit that Sarah died in my playthrough

It's the only real flaw of these games. At least they did something mildly interesting with Alvin when they had to clean up.

Great episode. Really emulated the feel of the comics with the deaths I felt. What a gut wrencher in the end. When you see the pallor of Rebecca's skin after giving birth I thought there were some complications, internal bleeding or what have you, but it was still upsetting to see she didn't make it on the road. I swore out loud when I saw her dead, lol. I imagine I'll be doing to same in the opening scene of the finale. That showdown was brutal. And goddamn I hate having to wait 2 months give or take to see the resolution of that cliffhanger. Reminds me of this...

Alot of growth for Clem in the episode too. I really enjoyed the sequences she shared with Jane, picking up some skills from her and learning her outlook on life in the apocalypse. I hope Jane gets to return in the future for as much development as Kenny has gotten, but odds are she'll meet a cruel fate the way things have been going for people around Clem recently.

Oh F***!

How... Why... Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with JM, this was easily the best episode of season 2, if not the entire series.

It felt much longer than the other episodes and the choices were really, really hard this time around. It was such an improvement over episode 3, which was good, but not really up to standards in my opinion. The finale was the absolute best (And painful) part of the episode. How are we supposed to wait for the next one?

I am so damn excited for the next episode, but it pains me to say that at least one of the group members will probably show up dead on the floor at the beginnning of the next episode. It also seems like they're building up a "Luke vs Kenny" kinda thing. Pretty sure next episode we'll have to choose one over the other. I'm not ready for that...

On a different note, the reviewer at IGN said this was the worst episode of the season (http://ie.ign.com/ar...pisode-4-review)

I know everyone has their own opinions and all, but... Really?!?! 6/10?!?!?

I didn't take the meds, but the game acted like I did, anyway. Arvo told the others that Clementine had robbed him.

Arvo was trying to put the meds in the trash can. Is it possible that Arvo stole the medication from the group and was using Clem and Jane as scapegoats?

On a different note, the reviewer at IGN said this was the worst episode of the season (http://ie.ign.com/ar...pisode-4-review)

I know everyone has their own opinions and all, but... Really?!?! 6/10?!?!?

Arvo was trying to put the meds in the trash can. Is it possible that Arvo stole the medication from the group and was using Clem and Jane as scapegoats?

I was wondering about that, too. It was weird how he seemed to want to get rid of the meds, and then he begged Clem not to take them.

I was really tempted to steal from him, but I thought that if I didn't he'd come back to help us at some point... How wrong I was.

I really hope we see Christa in the next episode, and that we get a chance to kill Arvo ourselves. They're really letting us make the heartless, evil decisions now, aren't they?

Here's a formal review now...

I didn't really blame Kenny for getting pissed at me for Sarita. I was actually kind of happy because I was getting new dialogue as a result of a choice. I told Kenny she was going to turn and then the game gave me no choice but to axe her in the face....I guess I chose the wrong dialogue option that convinces him to stand up and get away

I really liked Jane. She felt like a more realistic character than Molly and she treated me like an adult, but not the same way the cabin group was (I hope I'm not the only one who chose the dialogue option, "I was with a better group before", and asked Jane if you could go with her at the end). I also liked her backstory and it felt pretty sympathetic. It also added to her character and didn't feel like the backstory of Molly and Nick (I kind of felt like those were obligatory backstories that Telltale gave so we could feel bad for them)

I know I'm not a fan of Sarah and I'm going to admit I was reeaaaaaallllly tempted to leave her behind but I decided not to. That seemed to work to my benefit because I got to slap some sense into her and get Jane and Luke to like me a little more. When I saved Sarah, I was thinking Jane was going to get bitten as a result and I was gonna get really pissed with Sarah as a result. Plus, it's not like the decision was me choosing between Sarah and someone else (like Jane). The choice was "leave her or don't." That's a little heartless

Speaking of a Jane vs. Sarah decision, that was a tough decision and one I would've liked to see in the end episode stats (though I guess not everybody got this one). Believe it or not, I told Jane she had to save Sarah and I did think Jane would die as a result since I thought the only way Sarah could get up would be a boost from Jane and then Jane would be fucked. I wish Telltale did actually made that the case because it would work thematically with Jane's character since she gets to save her sister the way she wasn't able to before. Instead, Jane leaves the group anyway and Sarah is still dead. I guess a nail file is more useful than her but still...

My conversation with Kenny was pretty intense actually. I didn't know he could stay calm throughout because mine ended in a screaming match where I revealed that I shot Lee and that everybody's life was shitty, but he's the only one giving up on it. It would be cool if you weren't able to convince Kenny and he wouldn't help the group if you didn't shoot Lee (or if you were a bad convincer). If I was Kenny, I'd be pissed too. I was just chilling in my lodge when a new group showed up. They kill one of my friends, a psycho that's following them kills another friend, and then kidnaps me and my girlfriend, where she dies, too. Oh, I also lose an eye

I liked the thing with Mike and Bonnie but it felt a little silly. Bonnie kept staring at a display case as if supplies were there and Mike didn't think to open the gift shop door? Neither noticed the coat? Also, I felt bad, but I refused to crawl through the door even though it was a reasonable request. Bonnie actually respected me and told me the way the group was treating me was wrong. Plus, I got cute dialogue between Mike and Bonnie as a result. Also, "I'd eat the shit out of that raccoon" is now my favorite line in the series (did anyone else thinking killing the raccoon family would be a choice?)

The choice with Arvo was kind of easy for me, actually. He seemed super shady and I didn't believe him about his sister for a second. In fact, if the game gave me the option to kill him and not let him return to his group (similar to 400 Days), I would've done it. I was surprised Jane was so shocked when I brought it up. Anyway, I stole the supplies because my mindset was, "Telltale isn't gonna have another villain in the final episode who gets pissed at you if you steal their supplies." When Arvo showed up at the end, I just burst into hysterical laughter. Never change, Telltale. Also, since he gets pissed at you either way, I'm glad I stole the supplies. Fuck Arvo. Also, Russians are silly villains for the endgame. What about Tavia and the others?

This episode also kind of revealed some huge, underlying problems of Season 2, though. This post is already long as shit, though, so I'll do that later

Also, I want to toot my own horn and post this here

Oh, I'm also gonna throw in my death predictions for this episode

Rebecca, Sarita, Sarah, and maybe Mike are gonna bite it. Jane might bite it, too, or she'll leave the group the same way Molly did

Yeah Arvo is a serious prick. I hope we get a choice to kill him the next episode, which will make his death all the more sweet knowing that we could have let him live.

This was definitely the best episode of the season.  There was seriously never a dull moment, and the suspense never stopped.  The choices were better, the length was more satisfying, and the environments were fun to explore (I loved the "Lee would've loved this place," line at the museum).

I was a little disappointed when I saw Nick as a zombie, only because I liked the character and was hoping saving him in episode 2 would result in something worthwhile.  After his basically non-existence in episode 3, I hoped episode 4 would be where keeping him around would've really mattered.  Come to think of it, I guess it did matter in a way, because it took me by surprise a little bit when I stumbled across zombie Nick.  I'm not sure what you see instead if Nick were already dead, but the visual of him reaching out at me, with me having to put him down, was tragic and a good scene.  Alvin's death (if you save him) was much flashier in comparison, but not everybody gets to go out in a blaze of glory in TWD.

Likewise, I was hoping Sarah would at least make it into episode 5.  Her death was a big, "God-DAMN-it!" moment for me, because I literally did every single thing I possibly could to save that girl.  I talked to her every chance I had to try and get her to keep going, I never left her behind, I slapped her to get her to escape with us, I made Jane jump down and attempt to save her.  In the end, none of it fucking mattered.  I guess Jane was right when she said that some people just can't be saved, so I do think the death was well done because it nailed that point really hard.  At least I can move forward knowing that I really did everything I could, so at least I tried, which is better than not trying.

I think the reason that not a bigger deal was made out of Nick and Sarah's deaths was because there was simply too much shit that had been going on and was still going on.  I think everybody was still traumatized after the failed escape from Carver's compound that saw Carlos and Sarita killed, and left the group scattered.  Rebecca and Luke both showed emotion when learning about Nick; I wouldn't say that nobody cared.  But because people had already died, and now we all had a baby being born to worry about, there just wasn't the time to sit around and grieve for Nick and Sarah all day.  It was just too much to process, so I didn't see it as unrealistic that the group didn't spend too much time harping on those deaths.

I didn't really care for Jane leaving the group the way she did because it was too reminiscent of Molly in season 1.  I get that Jane was kind of a loner, but to me she was more of the Michonne type of loner.  She can get along just fine on her own, but I thought she would come around to the group.  Her skills could've been very useful to the group now that there's a baby around.  I get Jane's reasoning (she was getting too close to Clementine and couldn't handle seeing something happen to her) but I was still disappointed.

I didn't take the medicine from Arvo.  I didn't believe his "sick sister" story for a second, and I didn't know why he was lying but could tell that he was still obviously dealing with something.  I just had problems with mugging a crippled nerd, and I also felt that Lee would have been so disappointed in Clementine (we didn't take the supplies from the stranger's car in season 1).  However, Arvo still completely acted like Clem and Jane robbed him during the confrontation at the end.  I thought that maybe he was talking about his gun that Jane kept, but then he mentioned the supplies.  Arvo was attempting to hide the medicine, so he might have just been lying about Clementine robbing him to cover up that he kept it for himself, but the dialogue really made it seem like I had actually taken it.  I had to check the stats at the end to make sure the game registered that I didn't actually take the meds.

Like I said earlier, though, this was easily the best episode of the season.  The suspense was very high throughout, and I believe it had a perfect balance of action, emotion, story progression, and dialogue.  I also really like our remaining cast, even though there doesn't seem to be any way all of them are going to walk away from that cliffhanger ending.  I'm gonna be dying while I wait for the last episode, and I'm also kind of sad that the next one will be the last of the season, now that things are starting to get really, really good.

So who's left? I'm still trying to process this amazing episode, so I'm having trouble remembering who's still alive.

Is it just Clem, Luke, Kenny, Bonnie, Mike and Baby? Is that all? I really like our remaining cast, though. Pity that at least one of them will almost certainly be dead at the beginning of next episode.

Also, anyone have death predictions for next episode?

I think Mike will die for sure, unfortunately. I also think Baby will die. You'll probably have to choose between Kenny or Luke at some point, so one of them may die.

I have a feeling that Bonnie will survive though. Not sure about Clem's fate at this point.

I also hope Christa returns next episode. C'mon Telltale, don't leave us in the dark with Christa. Maybe Jane will also arrive and pull off something dramatic.

I am sick of characters that could have died earlier simply being used as cannon fodder later. it makes the decisions mean nothing.

Everyone is dead from the Cabin except Luke. Wow. that went poorly.

Also wtf is with how fast these guys are turning! It took Sarita and Rebecca like 10 seconds! It used to take a couple of hours.

Thought it was a great episode overall. I actually fell for Arvo's bullshit. I thought he was alone somewhere with his sick sister a didn't actually expect to see him again. Dumb me. 

Had mixed feelings about seeing yet another group of  armed thugs, with tattoos and eastern European  accents no less.