Decline Telltale: Game of Thrones

[Blackthorne]

It's not that simple, as you put it, as removing puzzles. Bozia explains it well. Tell-tale is basically a semi-interactive cartoon - the larger amounts of exploration and freedom present in adventure games 20 years ago put the boundaries in Telltale games to shame.


Bt

 

[Redlands]

I get that these games are certainly entertaining for some folks, but calling them Adventure Games gives me the poop shudders.

That's because the games you consider adventure games are actually puzzle games. If you remove the puzzles, they are no different from these Telltale games.

That's makes about as much sense as saying RPGs are actually fighting games, if you removed the combat then you just have an adventure game. You can't take one characteristic feature of a genre (puzzles/combat), treat it like it's the only characteristic feature to turn it into a different genre (puzzle/fighting games) while ignoring other important characteristics (environment exploration/character development) that also separate the genres.

 

[Athelas]

The funny thing about Telltale making a GoT game is that they can use the fatalistic nature of the book/show (nobody is safe, anyone can die) as an excuse for why there's no C&C and all roads lead to the same outcome. :D

Though I find the biggest culprit of the Telltale games to be not the lack of C&C, but the very formulaic and bland writing. It's not even enjoyable in the way 'so bad it's good' video game writing can be.

 

[bozia2012]

The funny thing about Telltale making a GoT game is that they can use the fatalistic nature of the book/show (nobody is safe, anyone can die) as an excuse for why there's no C&C and all roads lead to the same outcome. :D

Though I find the biggest culprit of the Telltale games to be not the lack of C&C, but the very formulaic and bland writing. It's not even enjoyable in the way 'so bad it's good' video game writing can be.

And still I fall for it - I get easily engaged in the events and treat this minimalism/laziness as gritty realism

 

[Haba]

Visual novels have more interactivity than this. Telltale: (none of) your choices matter!

 

[Bubbles]

Visual novels have more interactivity than this. Telltale: (none of) your choices matter!

Well, they matter to you, and you're what matters!

 

[Dreaad]

Recent Telltale games remind of those "pick your own adventure books" from my youth, except with less text. Writing is of equal caliber too. I would imagine it's a perfect tool to ruin any young child's ability to enjoy actual games. Kinda sad when Beyond Two Souls has more gameplay than the shit you make.

Normally I'd agree that a let's play version would make it alright to kill some hours.... but in this case there is an actual television series that is infinitely better. Even just an audio book playing with a slideshow on your computer would be more interesting.

 

[Jaesun]

The old "pick your own adventure books" had actual choice and consequences, unlike Telltales mass accessible garbage.

 

[DrowningHarvey]

You will take on the role of different members of the Forrester household, and determine their fate through the choices you make.

Maybe you will get

Spoiler

stabbed in the neck.

Perhaps the choices you make will lead to you being

Spoiler

stabbed in the neck.

Through careful planning and devious diplomacy you may also end up getting

Spoiler

stabbed in the neck.

Your own adventure awaits!

 

[Trash]

Utterly fails as a genuine game but it works as a slightly interactive story and I did thoroughly enjoy the ending. As a story it has some wonky writing and some odd decisions here and there. The seat of House Forrester looking like a log cabin instead of a genuine castle or fortress pissed me off to an unreasonable extend. Really guys, if you want to go with a wooden theme then why not go for a nice bailey and motte?

 

[Sycophantic Noob]

I completed the 'game' in around 1 hour. I have never played a game this short, and that includes pacman and dangerous dave. Did telltale waste all their money paying for the license? There are actually nearly zero choices. Nothing you say or do really matters; with all the millions they earned through twd you would hope they would make a good game. The game engine is also shit because it has to run on everything from tablets to pcs to gameboys.

 

[bozia2012]

I completed the 'game' in around 1 hour. I have never played a game this short, and that includes pacman and dangerous dave. Did telltale waste all their money paying for the license? There are actually nearly zero choices. Nothing you say or do really matters; with all the millions they earned through twd you would hope they would make a good game. The game engine is also shit because it has to run on everything from tablets to pcs to gameboys.

It's not the whole game. By the time all episodes are out, there will be a few chances to buy it an appropriate price (5EUR or less).

 

[Jaesun]

I completed the 'game' in around 1 hour. I have never played a game this short, and that includes pacman and dangerous dave. Did telltale waste all their money paying for the license? There are actually nearly zero choices. Nothing you say or do really matters; with all the millions they earned through twd you would hope they would make a good game. The game engine is also shit because it has to run on everything from tablets to pcs to gameboys.

None of that matters if it continues to sell well.

 

[Metro]

Tales From the Borderplands 10/10 GOTY.

 

[Shadenuat]

You will take on the role of different members of the Forrester household, and determine their fate through the choices you make.

Maybe you will get

Spoiler

stabbed in the neck.

Perhaps the choices you make will lead to you being

Spoiler

stabbed in the neck.

Through careful planning and devious diplomacy you may also end up getting

Spoiler

stabbed in the neck.

Your own adventure awaits!

The funny thing is, Telltale kills some likeable character in the first act of their every game as far as I remember, at least ones I played: TWD and Wolf Among Us. So here it's not as much as Martin's trick but Telltale's, and it also doesn't make sense.
But, even funnier, since you know for sure that in Telltale games nothing really matters and what developers decided is always set in stone, you can do some stupid things and get away with it.

A character dies, nothing changes that, so you can do whatever you want.
You can, as a dirty northern handmaiden, walk into throne room and show Cersei a middle finger, make fun of her and tell her you serve One True King, and only loyal to whom you want, and she can go and fuck herself. And you are NOT going to die at the end of the episode. Because that's not what developers intended.

 

[taxalot]

I have said it in another thread, but here it goes again.

The fact you do not get fooled about the objective qualities of the game doesn't have necessarly to hinder your enjoyment. The last games I finished were two I bought during the Steam Sales : The Walking Dead Season 2, and The Wolf Among Us. As I went through in the game and watched everything unfold, I had little doubt that some events, choices I did during the game did not matter at all. I was also under no illusion that I was "playing" anything else than a movie which provided a tiny bit of interaction.

Still, as it has been said earlier in this thread, that little bit of interaction matter. Because I didn't know sometimes how little my choices mattered. They could matter at the time I make them, or they couldn't. It's like a Schrodinger's game : if you do not replay it a second time, you don't know how inconsequential or plot-changing your choices can be. This ambiguity is the strength of the experience. I daresay "experience", once again, but they cannot be really called a game.

I realize I have been playing a game that's hardly interactive, but sometimes, just sometimes, it's just nice to sit on the couch and watch teh things happen on your screen. After all, don't we all do this when we watch a movie or a TV series ? With the added bonus of making choices in a while, and on "being" one character. It makes you more involved in the story.

To me, it worked. I had a fun time, while I certainly woulndn't give it awards or something else. You have, once again, to separate the objective qualities of a game (Telltale's are nearly absent) and what you actually feel while you go through it. Walking Dead and TWAU absolutely sucked as games.

.. . And yet, I spent a few enjoyable moments thanks to these in front of my TV. Is there anything wrong in that ?

Telltale is doing their thing. Let them do their thing. In the meantime, other developers are doing point and click games. It's also great. You can enjoy both. I'm now going through King's Quest 6 and having a blast.

 

[Tommy Wiseau]

Telltale's working on a Minecraft story-based game now, by the way. Srsly.

 

[bozia2012]

Telltale's working on a Minecraft story-based game now, by the way. Srsly.

Well, it had to happen. (hehe, a determinist joke)

 

[Merlkir]

Semi-related thing that happened:

Michael Kirkbride has been hired by TellTale.
Should be good.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Semi-related thing that happened:

Michael Kirkbride has been hired by TellTale.
Should be good.

Elder Scrolls: Chim chim charoo, the eclectic boogaloo: A Telltale Adventure.

 

[Whisky]

Semi-related thing that happened:

Michael Kirkbride has been hired by TellTale.
Should be good.

It'll take about a year to drain his drug coffin. He won't be able to work before then.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Given Skyrim's success, I can totally see The Elder Scrolls: A Telltale Adventure happening.

 

[Seari]

I enjoyed it until I read that there's no c&c. Telltale are fucking assholes

 

[Metro]

Given Skyrim's success, I can totally see The Elder Scrolls: A Telltale Adventure happening.

Don't give them any ideas.

 

[evdk]

Recent Telltale games remind of those "pick your own adventure books" from my youth, except with less text. Writing is of equal caliber too.

I dunno about you, but I might actually buy Tales of Lone Wolf.

Spoiler

For 2 bucks. I mean, it would still be TellTale