Is it wrong to fault Game of Thrones for tying too closely with the series?
I like Telltale games. I own all of the titles beginning from The Walking Dead to now. I like their formula, their mechanics and their accessibility. However, I'm having very mixed feelings on Game of Thrones.
I'm one of the few who didn't watch Game of Thrones on a weekly basis (sorry. Slightly bloodier and sexier Lord of the Rings isn't my cup of tea). But, I figured I could just play this game and not even have to touch the TV series since Telltale does such a good job on bringing newcomers up to speed on events. I was mistaken; after playing the first episode, I felt as though I had missed out on various references, nods, cameos and explanations to events that were not covered in the first episode and thus, I had to go and watch all the episodes to Game of Thrones before episode 2 came out.
Is it wrong to consider tying in too closely to continuity and canon events part of a game's faults?
Now, I want to be clear here, this is not the first time Telltale has adapted a licensed property. They've done adaptations of Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, The Walking Dead, Fables and even Borderlands. However, those games don't require me to be familiar with the source material to enjoy them. I didn't need to go back and experience TWD, Fables or Borderlands to know what was going on. Telltale introduced the setting and the characters enough, got the key cameos out of the way and allowed the game's story to be its own independent story, peripheral to events. (Even games like Back to the Future and Tales from the Borderlands are allowed to be an expansions of their respective universes and is given creative freedom to go past the canon events).
Maybe, this was done intentionally on Telltale's part; in order to enjoy the game, you would have to experience the TV series, thus generating additional revenue for Game of Thrones for curious newcomers.
What really bothers me is that now that I have seen all of episodes of Game of Thrones, I no longer feel any tension for various decisions made from the Forresters.
To be honest, playing Game of Thrones feels more like I'm playing (and forgive me but this is an old reference) one of The Godfather games from Electronic Arts, where I'm essentially an off-screen character who does various missions to help canon characters and I can't do too much otherwise it's going to mess up the continuity of, let's face it, a much more popular show/movie/book than the tie-in game ever will be.
So, back to my original question: Is it wrong to praise works for being more 'stand-alone' and independent as well as faulting works for being tied to continuity and dependent on other source materials?
Comments
I had the same feeling when i started game of thrones. I had never watched any episode of game of thrones and this was just extremly confusing. I am watchhing season 1 now but i still dont understand alot more.
Considering that the game takes place in between Season 3 and 4 of the show, watching Season 1 and expecting to have a full knowledge isn't really gonna help you.
And i never expected full knowledge...
Since when has House Forrester ever going to mess up the continuity of the overall story that the show has? The game's story, at least in my view, was to show how minor Houses essentially play the same game of thrones that the Lords and Kings of the land play, but in a way that doesn't have any significant impact except for their own House, which brings us to -
Because they don't have any impact on who will eventually sit the Iron Throne? Telltale can make multiple endings out of this season of the game and have House Forrester be destroyed or standing based on your decisions. The tension is still a bit high there
Also, The fact that they are drawing in characters from the main storyline isn't a strong argument either. Obviously a main reason Telltale did that was to help appeal the game to fans of the show, but also it makes sense -
I don't think this game is sticking too close to the show's story, and it's not fair to fault it off that and based off of Telltale's other games. Walking Dead has a HUGE universe to expand on, The Wolf Among us is a prequel, and Tales from the Borderlands is a spinoff sequel. The reason why Game of Thrones may seem like that was because the devs wanted to tie in the story during the overall timeline of the main story of the source material, which is not a thing to fault them on imo.
I don't know if I'm wording it correctly, but overall I disagree with you. Though it can be taken as just a matter of opinion
That sounds like you did expect it
Well the Red Wedding is at the end of Season 3, but the majority of Season 1 of the game does take alongside Season 4 of the show
...So your complaint is. I haven't watched nor read the source material which the game is based from, and thus don't understand the universe/events, because the game is closely linked to them. Sorry, but I don't really see it as valid criticism.
Again, I have this nagging feeling that Telltale would be interested in doing a 'Season 2' of Game of Thrones and want to keeps House Forrester 'standing' so they can continue to have an audience POV for the sequel. I think there's only so many endings that can happen because in order to do a sequel, you can't have too many endings to call on otherwise it would create a bigger production budget and strain animation.
Other Telltale games don't tie in so closely with the source material and are allowed to be accessible to newcomers.
Should I have to be required to keep up with the source material in order to fully enjoy a game's narrative? I never watched or read the Walkign Dead but I can still enjoy The Walking Dead games. I never played Borderlands but can still enjoy Tales from the Borderlands. I never read Fables but can still enjoy The Wolf Among Us. Having knowledge of those adds more to the work, but I don't need the knowledge beforehand. It's nice but unnecessary.
It depends on the IP mainly. The Walking Dead has plenty of places it can go, many cities and states (even countries) that haven't been explored yet. You can pretty much make up a group in a random location and roll with it, same deal with TFTBL. The Wolf Among Us isn't limited by what happens in the comics because it comes before them chronologically.
The thing with Game of Thrones is that the world it's set in is developed down to pretty much every little detail, regardless of location or point in time, so if you haven't watched the show or read the books you'll probably miss something at some point. TTG is much more limited in how much or how little they can tie to the canon just based on the fact that Game of Thrones has such a large scope that pretty much every major location is expanded upon.
I don't know how to explain it, but perhaps if they didn't tie it in to the canon, the player would understand even less of what's going on - or at least wouldn't understand the series' scope as much.
You know what else were with those games? None of them and I mean absolutely none of them had the lore of Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones has a history of 8000 years.
The Walking Dead only dictates ONE group of survivors out of an entire country. It is so easy to explore other towns, cities, states, even countried with not even a single interference with the main comics/show.
Tales From The Borderlands has had three games in its franchise, one of which was a prequel and is based on an ENTIRE PLANET.
The Wolf Among Us is lore heavy, so they set it before the main events of the Fables comics.
There is no way around Game of Thrones. Set it before? Cant. Way too much lore that fans of the show/book have no idea about. Set in the future? Nope. Spoilers and no one knows how it all ends.
People have been told, time and time again to at least watch the show until the end of Season 3. Either watch it, or don't complain when you don't understand what is going on.
i love teltales games and the GoT shox... but whatthe hell???
the idea of a small house ("obviously" in the north) is a good idea, the obvious local politicsmatter, but the global does too! but as a minor house, your dfecisions shouldn't affect global politics... yet again, WHAT HE HELL?
same thing about having a caracter anywhere, commoners point of view all around the worldis an enhancement of the show aswell as a good introduction to the GoT universe...
but as the matter of fact, this game is just a "fan servicetelltale" game presenting a "fanservive GoT" universe...
any TV character that appear here seems out of place.. ramsey snow is a sadidistic person, but not stupid enough to leave evidences or witnesses! john snow should be with the wildlings at timeline... and worst of all, the kingslanding part: you are a servant, your role is "brainlessly follow orders", (you know it's just a role, masters know its just a role...), but anyone pretends its the only possible truth,yet not in this game (i'm tired of WTH quotes).
why would anyone ask a servant if she follows orders or if she is fully intrusted with the kingdom? brainless servants would collapses and wake up with revolution ideas, and even half brain servants would give a soulless lie...
tis points a TTG feature, the neg-neg choice... it was interessant sometimes on walking dead, it feels here like a brainless fanservice...
oki, i'm obbvious, it's a story with fan service features in a fan serice unverse... what kinda story is it?
this far its correct...no less yet no more.. ep1 presents the characters and their condition, ep2 shows their situation and a basic llocal plot, ep3 finalally ties things with the obvious "let's hope this'll happend" / "what can we do after this?"
and it sucks aswell asa braainless videogame: it's the same silly animation, the same silliest easy gameplay, but bow it's real 3d not cellshading... which bringsthe gameto "allmost ugly"!!!
al in all, it's not justobvious fanservice, but a FS bad enough to point out incoherences of both materials!
The Walking Dead - focuses on one group in the ENTIRE planet. Of course they'll have room to adjust
Wolf Among Us - prequel set story, they had the ability to do it
Tales from the Borderlands - again, an ENTIRE planet to work around.
Game of Thrones has none of that. The actual story itself already covers practically the whole universe, so Telltale had to manage with that. And they did a damn good job at that, imo
Well, Telltale practically has a Season 2 planned. But also, it doesn't have to follow House Forrester. Their Sam and Max game had 3 seasons, each its own story. Telltale can easily have their be multiple endings for House Forrester than move on to a new House.
I agree. It feels like they challenged themselves and did well.
OH MY GOD! I'M DIVING INTO A GAME SET DEEP IN A WELL ESTABLISHED SERIES STORYLINE AND EXPECT TO HAVE A NICE TIME UNDERSTANDING EVERYTHING AND THE CHARACTERS. :c Wtf telltale?!
Jon*
Jon snow was not still with the wildlings at this time. He specifically said that they're going after the deserters in Crasters keep.
Said so by Jon in-game.
I can understand your confusion but honestly Game of Thrones isn't a story which can be easily understood. Game of Thrones has a large scope, it has all these factions and characters, multiple inter-running plots etc.
Game of Thrones is far more complex than any series Telltale has ever adapted and that raises the question if Telltale really was the right developer to assign with adapting Game of Thrones. Telltale's short restricted game design format doesn't really give them much breathing space. Since they're so limited they can't have hundreds of characters and stories playing out in the same way as Dragon Age Inquisition. So they have to off screen a lot of stuff and leave it in the codex entries.
That's why I believe it's incorrect to say that Telltale is following the TV series too closely. Game of Thrones needs a highly complex world.
Put it this way: Even if Telltale were to make the game a prequel to the TV series, they would still need to design hundreds of characters, stories etc in order to make the prequel feel like an authentic Game of Thrones story. However that will be too much for Telltale's minimalistic episode format. Telltale's games' episodes don't have the same kind of space as the average Triple A game. If Telltale were to craft a 100% original Game of Thrones story they would have to off screen a lot of stuff and put it in the codex for everyone to read. That'll make the game feel like a chore to everyone.
Now look at what Telltale has done: Instead of crafting their own interpretation of the Game of Thrones-verse, they've decided to adapt the universe of the highly popular TV series. The events of their game parallel the events of the TV series. This way the game's story is complex as it has hundreds of characters, stories etc but many of these characters, stories etc are already known to a significant portion of the audience because many of these characters, stories etc are from the TV show. Thus Telltale can only focus their game on the few new characters, stories etc which they introduce in their game. This works well with their minimalistic episodic format.
Now I know a section of tTelltale's audience will be unfamiliar with the TV series but the alternative (make a 100% original Game of Thrones story) will be cumbersome for everyone. ATM only the people who haven't watched the show should read the codex to understand the story but if Telltale opted for the later then every single person who plays Game of Thrones would have to read these long text chunks in order to understand the plot. That would be horrible. People play games to have an interactive experience, not to read walls of text.
As for your query about not feeling any mroe tension for the Forresters, I think it may be because you've just finished with a Game of Thrones watching binge. You're probably worked up by the series at this point. I suggest you put the game away and come back to it in a few months (maybe after the final episode is released?).
Yes, and he wasn't with them. The battle for the wall happened after he escaped and after they went to Crasters keep, so the timeline is correct.
[removed]
Fair enough.
Season 2 could easily follow a different minor house in a different region.
That's also possible, sure.