Is it hypocritical to like Rhys’ story but not Mira’s? *Spoilers*
So, I finished Episode 6 of Game of Thrones. (I was disappointed, to say the least. I didn’t like the cliffhanger ending because it felt like a cynical cash grab for us to buy Season 2, but I digress). One of the biggest disappointments for me was Mira’s storyline. Let me be clear: I think Mira is a great character and I love seeing how a handmaiden manipulates her way through King’s Landing using her wits. However, Mira’s story within the Telltale mechanic never seems to connect. No matter what choices you make none of them ever seemed to matter, especially at the end where Mira will always be convicted of murder, regardless if you actually murdered Damien, regardless if you kept the knife and regardless if you burned the Ironwood decree. It all comes down to that final choice in the final episode of whether Mira accepts Morgryn’s offer or not. All the rest of her choices didn’t affect much at all.
But then, I remembered Rhys’ story from Tales from the Borderlands and caught myself feeling contradicted. A lot of Rhys’ story and choices didn’t have much effect at all (at least compared to Fiona’s choices where a wrong choice can alienate a certain party member from joining your Vault team.) Just as Mira’s choices up to that point meant little, so did Rhys’. No matter his prior relationship to Handsome Jack, it all comes down to Rhys either accepting Hyperion or refusing it. Jack always gets uploaded to Helios anyway. Just the same, no matter Mira’s choices up to the final episode, she’s caught in the same bad situation.
So, again, am I a hypocrite for liking Rhys’ tale instead of Mira’s, even if both have the same “choices didn’t actually matter in the end” mechanic found in most Telltale games?
Comments
Though I liked Mira's conclusion there's a solid reason. Tales from The Borderlands was played for laughs. It was made for fun and excitement, while Game of Thrones was designed to cause stress, pain and worry. Two entirely different genre's can alter your prospective on two similarly told stories.
I think Rhy's choices mainly determine on what kind of character you want to make Rhys, I'm not sure Mira has that same appeal, though that could just be me since I always found Mira to a complete bore of a character who didn't have much of a personality.
I have a feeling that whatever original impact both subplots were originally supposed to make to the main story were downplayed, if not cut, because of the player feedback in between episodes. (i.e. A large majority of players choosing not to forge Margerey's seal and/or player disregarding Jack advise as Rhys during the second episodes of each series)