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Game of Thrones: A TELLTALE GAMES SERIES: Review
Do not switch, ladies and gentlemen, we begin the next report from Solar Westeros! That is, in places sunny, but more – harsh and snowy. After all, we are still talking about one of the northern clans, about which before the release of the interactive series from Telltale No one really knew anything and did not want to know.
Recall that the “pilot” release of the new game, we are not afraid of this word, saga, came out in December and became one of the most anticipated projects of winter. Telltale has already managed to establish itself with successful episodic series, such as The Wolf Among Us And The Walking Dead. So the fans of the universe George Martin (George Martin) There were every chance of getting a new delicious portion of Game of Thrones, now – Banana About Forresters.
The first series nevertheless turned out to be somewhat ambiguous. The dramatic, eventful story was combined with very dubious possibilities of influence on the plot and complete neglect of those unfortunate people who, until then, had only heard about the “song of ice and flame” with the corner of the ear. The second episode was to become in a sense decisive and determine whether we will assign Game of Thrones The title of the least successful undertaking Telltale Or, conversely, we admit that real wizards still work in the studio.
Creeping dead
Attention: The text of the review below contains an overwhelming number of spoilers in relation to not only the second, but also the first part of the series. If you first read about Forresters and have no idea what Ramsey Snow was bolder for them, it is better to close this review and play. We warned you and we are not responsible for the spoiled pleasure.
In the previous episode, the clouds above the unfortunate house of the Forresters began to thicken. The head of the family and his eldest son were meanly killed at the infamous red wedding. The management of business had to take on the little Lord Itan, who at the first meeting stabbed Bastard Ruse Bolton-Ramsi, also, in general, sadly known. The eternal rivals of Forresters-Whitehilla-stationed their soldiers right in the castle of weakened enemies, pulled half their possessions and took the youngest child to the family as a hostage-male. In general, the prospects of the clan by the end of the series seemed sad enough: there were no men in the house at all. Among the living, only the second son of Esher was still listed, before the start of the story, which sinking somewhere into the lands of the Essos.
However, it is not always what seems to be dead, it really cannot die anymore. At least the eldest son and heir to the clan, Rodrik Forrester, as it turned out, was a little killed until the end. With this surprise, the second episode begins Game of Thrones: while Asher in Yunkai together with his scars covered with scars chop into the cabbage of mercenaries, Rodrik comes to his senses with corpses. Not the most pleasant awakening, it should be noted. The wounded heir somehow slides off the cart-the only way he manages to attract the attention of others. He is immediately transferred to Meister’s caring hands. The slightly taped new lord Forrester looks so-so: half of his face is burned, his hand is broken, the leg is injured, so the poor man does not walk, but barely laminaries. But he has no time to hurt: Whitehilles and their luggles are impudent day and more, and Forres can not fight back to the enemies, because most of their troops died in the twins. The only hope is the allies that the clan may appear if Rodrik marries Elein Glenmore, with whom he was engaged before the war.
A good thing will not be called marriage
Of course, Glenmory now belong to the prospect of a dynastic marriage with a weakened and actually besieged house is much more skeptical than they reacted until recent tragic events. Lady Elein goes to the Forresters to visit Rodrika and discuss the engagement. The task of the young man is to convince the bride that she is still worth being his bride. All funds are involved for this, including the world – the eldest daughter, which serves the maid of Marger Tirell in the Royal Harbor. Lady Forreter Mother asks the girl to contribute: a letter to Glenmores from the future queen with the recommendation not to break the engagement, undoubtedly, Rodrik would help Rodrika.
But we remember that the world last time I tried to help the family, turning to Margeri for help, and nothing good came out as a result. Will she succeed this time?
A couple of side parallel lines tells about the adventures of the former squire of Forresters, Gared Tattle, on the wall and the long path of Escher Forrester home, in Westeros. To get out of the workers’ cities is not so simple, especially when it comes to a mercenary who managed to make more than one enemy.
Well, we admit: if the first part was saturated with scenario jerks and somersaults, then the second speech is still just about plot turns, albeit quite unexpected. However, a degree of drama from a slightly more smooth course of history does not particularly suffer. The scene in which Rodrik crawls out of the corpse -boom, otherwise it cannot be called very strong. And when Ladd Whitehill bursts into the castle right in the middle of the explanation of Rodrik and Elena, it is just right to grab the heart at all. The line of the world is also pleasing – the girl will have to seriously compete for her life and at the end to make a very important choice, the consequences of which we obviously will see in the next episode.
Forks and wanders
On the other hand, we had no complaints to the scenario last time. I was annoyed by non -alternativeness.
Indeed, the decisions that we made with such difficulty and tension in the previous part are not especially affected by the gameplay in the second episode. But the current, new forces are sometimes completely fateful. So, from the actions of the world in the royal harbor and the actions of Rodrik during a meeting with Elena, confirmation or breakdown of the engagement really depends. Our behavior in a conversation with Whitehill lays the circumstances of the final scene of the episode. That is, at least two or three important “reassures” in the gameplay are laid down.
Moreover, even where there is really no choice, Telltale constructs dialogs and mise -en -scenes so that we still have an illusion of influence on the plot. In the end, whether we need to bring the masters of virtuoso deception to the clean water, if interactive cinema is just that genre, in connection with which the player “He is glad to be deceived”?
You will not be remembered anymore
It could be said that the rest of the game mechanics remained the same as before, but it will not be entirely true. Of course, there are no epoch -making changes, but Telltale It seems to add small, non -specific, but pleasant improvements. For example, remember, as in the first episode Game of Thrones, And in two other interactive series, everyone, literally every counterclaim, strove to remember how we spat on his poppy milk or stroked Tyrion Lannister before his eyes? The frequency of such “memories” annoyed the more, the more insignificant the character was and the more inevitable death threatened him a minute after our conversation with him.
IN The Lost Lords This is much less. “Remember” something about us mainly those characters for interaction with which this is really important in the future. The rest – like, say, Gwin Whitehill, daughter of Ladda Whitehill, react to our words simply with answers as part of a dialogue. No more.
A few more dynamic and action scenes. If in the first episode the time for some kind of thought was almost always with us, then in the second you often have to click on the right button at the very moment when the game from us requires this. Otherwise, we will be mockingly informed that, they say, “Valar Morgulis” – our song is sung. As a result, QTE elements are somehow more kept in suspense. And when there are too many stresses, the developers throw us a “sobbing” part of the story like the funeral of the fallen lords with the
wonderful song of the waist forrester. The presentation is such that the tears are blown up directly, seriously! Which, in the end, matters that this very final song suspiciously resembles both in structure and even by the melody The Hanging Tree from “Hunger Games”? Sometimes coincidences – just coincidences.
For the sake of grunts, we note that John Snow, who appears in the new episode, also seems more likely to be a random coincidence with the hero of the television series than his true game copy. He moves strangely and speaks some kind of pathos, obscure nonsense. It is too obvious that old bastard appears on our monitors not in order to bring something important to the plot, but so that the developers can somehow dodge and show us another hero of the original saga.
It seems to us that developers from Telltale – Very cunning and prudent people. They build the dramaturgy of the season so that with each next episode we get in love with the series more and more and waited for continuation with increasingly impatience. Therefore, the first part Game of Thrones there was a kind of swing, seeding with a bright ending. The second, even despite the unsuccessfully represented by John Snow, is good enough to get “amazingly”.
Pros: dramatic plot;authentic atmosphere;tense dialogs;impeccably sustained style of the original;somewhat exclusively strong in terms of scenes;the real impact of the player’s choice on the development of the script;Dynamic episodes.
Cons: John Snow doesn’t look like himself.
