by Cpt._Funkotron » Thu Jun 29, 2017 2:27 pm
People can give GRRM shit for his writing all they want, but that game is my go-to example for how grimdark fantasy is HARD to pull off right. Because 'edge' gets you nowhere if you aren't already a proficient writer. Because the thing is, Martin doesn't *really* kill people off for no reason, Martin's character deaths may come out of left field right when they happen, but make perfect sense in hindsight, sort of like the punchline to a good joke. Not the Telltale game. Sacrifices that make no god damn sense before or after they happen. Betrayals that make no god damn sense before or after they happen. The weirdest contrivances. Worst of all, it doesn't give you what you want. When you watch Game of Thrones or read A Song of Ice and Fire, you want to be a player in the game, you want to interact with the lushly detailed world of westeros, YOU want to be Daenarys or Stannis or Margaery or Tywin, not their insignificant friend. None of your choices matter, which is doubly damning given that the property concerns political machinations and forethought. Ironrath is fucked no matter what, you can go through any motions you want, doesn't matter, you lose. Doesn't matter which way you play the forester girl, the bitch gets fridged at the end one way or another. What I take from this is that the game is trying to beat me over the head with "life isn't fair", which it goes about very clumsily mind you, and fair enough, that's true, but it's not specifically, diabolically, unfair either, and practically any death or misfortune in the series could have been avoided by a multitude of altered circumstances. That's what tragedy is. Tragedy is not bad things happening, tragedy is a bad thing almost not happening, but then happening anyway. If Romeo had waited like then more seconds before icing himself. If Julius Caesar had listened to his wife. If Bran hadn't climbed that tower. It's the little 'if's that make a good tragedy, if something is inevitable and inalterable, then it isn't tragic. It's just shitty. Like the game. "Shit Happens: A Telltale Game Experience".