The other day, as we were (re-re-re-)watching Breaking Bad during diner, I noticed the song Waiting Around to Die by The Be Good Tanyas. I already knew this great cover of the original song from Towns Van Zandt thanks to a game that we both completed not so long ago: The Walking Dead – The Final Season.

Lately, video games make me discover more music than… Well, it seems that video games are my only source of music since, you know, radios are dead.

In my backlog, there are the games that I bought because I’m loyal to a franchise, there are the games that I bought because of the hype, and there are the games that I’m so sure I’ll enjoy, I don’t dare to play. I keep them for a fabled perfect moment which, of course, never comes, so they stay in my backlog for years… Until the day I finally decide that it’s been long enough and I finally play them.

That day has come for the final season of Telltale’s The Walking Dead.

I love episodic adventure games, I love Telltale games and I love The Walking Dead, what could go wrong, right?! Well, beside Telltale shutting down right in the middle of the final season, absolutely nothing… The game is awesome, as good, if not even better than the other seasons.

Clementine is still amazing, a total badass, but it’s especially A.J. that surprised me. I get easily annoyed by kids, usually in movies, especially in games. It’s so rare that a kid as main protagonist doesn’t get so bratty that you want to yell at him (Gus in Sweet Tooth – the TV show, Daniel in Life is Strange 2,…), but A.J. isn’t like that. Beside a few moral conflicts, he doesn’t easily whine. In fact, he becomes the perfect side-kick and you’re the one who becomes dependent on him, not the other way around.

The game in itself is fantastic, it doesn’t overwhelm you neither with waves of monsters nor too long drama scenes. There are a few twists, sometimes sad, sometimes happy and sometimes OMFG! In short, the usual recipe for a perfect Telltale moment.

What I feared the most finally happened, I’ve finally reached the end of the adventure. Keeping it in my backlog was my way to keep it going on. Now that I’ve played it, even if I’m happy that it received the end that it deserved, I’m sad that I won’t get to live new adventures with Clem and A.J.. Until, of course, the new Telltale studios, announces a new season or, eventually, the day I’ll miss it so much that I’ll do a replay of the entire series.

It started 15 years ago, maybe more, I’m not certain, but I remember buying the first book… It was in Brussels and we were about to have some time off at home. As usual, we were stockpiling cool stuff for our holidays and we purchased the first tome of The Walking Dead. Yesterday evening, I’ve finally read the last page of the last book. Now, I feel sad at the idea that there won’t be another book to purchase for our next holidays. On the other hand, I’m very happy with the end and I’m glad that Robert Kirkman could bring it to the conclusion that he wanted.

I gave up on the TV Show a few years ago. It was not good, too slow and over dramatic, but the comic books are amazing from the first page to the last. I’ll probably read them again, one of these days…

Also, the 16 books fit in a single Kallax cube. Coincidence? I think not.

We love love zombies, we love deserted cities and we love the Walking Dead franchise but what the hell happened to this TV show?

Drama was one thing and it has always been part of The Walking Dead, you can’t have humans fighting for their survival without moments when they ask themselves a bunch of existential questions… But, for crying out loud, what’s up with the slow facial expressions every 5 minutes?

In a TV show with so many characters, there’s always a few that you’ll like less, but I can barely stand any of them! From Rick to Morgan, they’re all a bunch of whining pussies and don’t even get me started with the gay drama. Yes, you read it well, I’m tired of every single TV show being plagued with gay drama. Oh, I dare to say it! After all, this is my blog and not Twitter, freedom of speech still exists here.

I already think that we’ve been very patient… After all, we’ve made it to season 8, but that’s it, no more! We’re still fan of the Telltale game, the comic books and Fear The Walking Dead, but this TV show is dead to us.

Clementine is an amazing character and it was a great pleasure to spend a week-end in her company. I really have the feeling to have seen her grow, from the little girl hiding in her house to the total badass she became.

Javier Garcia was also a great protagonist. I’m convinced that he’s the reason why I’ve prefered this season over the previous one.

Even if Soforah’s end is a bit different from mine (more than usual in a Telltale game), I wish that my choices would matter more. Too often, whatever you decide, the story remains the same. I know that they can’t let it go too far, otherwise we would fork too far from the original story, but a bit more freedom would be welcome.

The eternal Telltale recipe has to change! I don’t wanna spend several episodes being bullied by a jerk (Kenny, David,…), just to see him become a human in the last 10 minutes.

A few screenshots I took during my last play through:

I’ve been very entertained with A New Frontier. As usual, Telltale delivers a game of quality. The voice acting, for example, is one of the best in the video game industry.

Being a fan of the franchise, I consider the Telltale serie better than the TV shows (at least better than the main show, which became total garbage).

I’ve just learned that the next season will be the final one… It makes me sad.