Most Tense Game Ever!? - Video Review
VIDEO REVIEW
Check out the full in depth review of episode 2 right here in this video, as well as an overview of the series so far!
NOTE: (Since the release of the most recent part in the story, I figured I'd bring up my last review on Episode 2 while I get down to making another one on episode 3 - check it out! Let me know what you think it's like in comparison to episode 3, and feel free to give me any pointers on what kind of stuff to focus on this time around)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DaB4k4Sz64&feature=youtu.be
TL;DR
To me this episode has a huge, huge feeling of consequence and compromise to it - a movement from the last episode, which was a feeling of dread and doom. And this consequence comes from an increased wealth of opportunities and decisions that greatly impact the story.
Written Review
This was awesome! Didn't think I could enjoy it more over the perfect setup of the last one but this really was awesome! There seemed to be so many more opportunities to affect and change the main plot of the House - with Tyrion's exclusive trade agreement, marriage to Elaeno's House, antagonizing House Whitehill, forging Margaery's letter; it seemed most actions made a dramatic difference in how House Forrester stood at the end of the episode, and I like that - there were no real minor scenes. That's not to say the last episode didn't have that, but with every character switch in episode 2 you knew you'd soon have to make a tough but influential decision on the story, where as episode 1 more so established the characters and struggles rather than creating a huge impact at every turn, and so it served its purpose that way.
Mira's plot line stood out the most to me above all; all this huge intrigue and secrecy is emerging, and it makes you feel right at home at King's Landing. The murder, the diplomacy, the thievery, the room trashing, the alcoholic maiden, you had to be careful at every promise you made, or were rather forced to make - you had to list your values and priorities every time a character spoke to you and pick who to ally with above whom. It was awesome. And now, while trying to web together agreements and promises, you also get caught up in a crime and assassination - makes it real tense. Where as the last episode more so focused on gaining Margaery's help and didn't deviate much from it - but like I keep saying, it served its purpose as a first episode - if there were too many characters or too much dialogue, it'd overwhelm us.
I like the echo of the past episode too; the first time we officially confronted Lord Whitehill in the great hall as Ethan, we didn't know what really to expect - it was our first time negotiating with another House in this game, who turned out to be a tyrant, personified by us playing as a young kid - it had a great feeling to it, like we really were powerless and naive in taking over this house and trying to take on its issues. But now, in episode 2, we're given a second chance - as Lord Whitehill offers to 'start a clean slate', acknowledging that we're 'not Ethan', and offers us to kiss his ring, it lets us make an informed decision from our past experience - we're no longer powerless. And (dependent on your actions) you now have certain agreements that you can counterbalance with appearing weak again to Lord Whitehill, like Tyrion's trade agreement, or the army from the marriage, or future army from Essos. The story lets us learn from similar scenarios in episode 1, and now in this episode we get the feeling of control; we're now actively working towards restoring House Forrester's former glory, and rather than hoping and guessing a reaction from unknown characters, we have arrangements and intrigue we can now use to make our decisions.
Ultimately the shift in tone is perfect for me - episode 1 setup a neat feeling of disaster for House Forrester; with the approaching Ramsay Snow, the displeased Whitehill Pig running his mouth, the long walk to the Throne Room to be interrogated by Cersei for Margaery's political gain, everything felt like we were thrown into a place where we owed something to everyone - and it wasn't our fault - like the new kid at school. But now, with episode 2, we're on the offense; we're given plenty of unique opportunities to restore the house - we're no longer scrabbling for luck or hope that Ramsay Snow doesn't kick us in the face, we now have contacts, people who want to see House Forrester succeed, from Tyrion to Lady Whitehill to Elaena, to the coal boy I guess, and to an extent Margaery. This means the real tension in this episode comes from us trying to protect our perfectly crafted plans and agreements - the assassination at the end and Mira's involvement had a huge amount of tension to it - because now Mira's deeply involved with the house's future, such as speaking to Lord Whitehill on behalf of the house and liasing with Tyrion - she can't afford to have this stuff happen to her now. It was bad enough being tempted to drink Cersei's wine before sealing a deal with Tyrion, but killing someone!?
To me this episode has a huge, huge feeling of consequence and compromise to it - a movement from the last episode, which was a feeling of dread and doom. And this consequence comes from an increased wealth of opportunities and decisions that greatly impact the story.
For a more in depth review of episode 2, and a review on the entire series so far as well as addressing the complaints, check out the video!
Comments
Cool! I agree with most of that, good job, and great editing too, awesome video. I think these episodes are really early on in the series so there's a lot of room for improvement no matter what imperfections there are, that's the good thing about TellTale games and series games. Anyone think they need to pump out these episodes more regularly though? I waited 2 months to play episode 2 and I already forgot about the first one by the time I played it
I would agree on increased speed in producecing these..... But for TT 2Months is lighting fast! Hopefully they can work out the kinks. Eventually I think a lot of us would like to see weekly....that however starts to affect price i fear. Voice talent like to be paid you know!
2months feels like a labor agreement to me just saying.
Have you played Alien: Isolation?
Hell yeah! Played that a few months ago
It really looks like they finish these episodes months in advance, I mean the previews for episode 3 are already out, looks like they're already done with it. Maybe it's a marketing thing, maybe it generates more hype throughout the year if they release in month intervals, get more cash you know?
That would probably get my vote for most tense game. Almost made me poo myself a few times.
Tension can also make some stuff hilarious though, I was laughing my ass throughout most of Alien, Check it out!
The previews are done because they have every episode written already. Before releasing the first episode of a game, they need to have it written entirely to make those previews and make players slightly more hyped.
So for example Episode 1 is out and we see a preview of Episode 2, but the only thing done about Ep2 is the story. The two months they're taking is to put those words in their script into a game.
But in the previews they have all the animations and scenes play out, do you mean they pick certain scenes to preview and work on them first? Then they go back and flesh out the rest of the episode before release?
Exactly.
They pick a certain scene, usually the most vague ones like Beskha saying ''No'', animate it and put in the preview. Then they're going back and doing the rest of the episode.
Makes sense. I just wish the release schedule was at least once a month like 21Dunn was saying, I was waiting all over January to play on.
Me too. I even wish that it was like you say - have every episode ready and releasing them in similiar spans of times.
We're waiting like 10 weeks now for the second episode of Tales from the Borderlands.
Look how dark we've made the background of the comment section brah.
Problem is Telltale's signed up to so many deals since the Walking Dead, I get the feeling they're kinda encumbered. They really need to expand and have different departments doing different things, hire a whole load of people to deal with the work they have and push the episodes out.
Subbed -thejeroenbrouwer on yt
Good video. Hope you make it on the hard world of Youtube
Thanks buddy! That really means a lot! What other stuff would you wanna see on the channel?
The other episodes for one
, as long as you have passion for whatever it is you're doing, it will bring views.
But i dunno, perhaps the other telltale games? Would like your perspective on TWAU and such
Its your channel however, do what you like to do
I can't wait for the next episodes, gonna get straight on that. Gotta say after playing GOT I'm really keen on Telltale's other stuff, I'll definitely check them out, and similar storytelling games too, like Life Is Strange, they're so easy to review.
Well I guess I would have had a funnier time if I'd played it on two-wrench-hit-kill mode instead of whatever difficulty I played it on where using the wrench was really not an option unless I had plenty of medkits to spare. I'm just giving you a hard time, though. If you made it through that game without ruining a pair of underwear then you get to join the cool kid club.
I kinda cheated, I wasn't wearing any underwear
I kinda want to play it now, but I only watched like 4 episodes of it. I got kinda bored and I couldn't really understand their accents so it was hard to follow. Will I like this even though I couldn't get into the show and do I have to really watch the show to understand this? I heard some say yes, but others say not really, I don't know what do.
I'd say the show gives it better context, so when a character from the TV show does something it has more meaning or reason behind it, like Tyrion and Margaery. But all of the new characters in the Telltale series are the most important, all the protagonists you play as are fresh and never seen before, so you really learn with the game through the perspective of the new characters instead of the show and make your own story, which is awesome. If you don't know something it'd just get explained to you, just less in depth. It feels like the TV show characters and plots are just there to guide you on familiar ground and gives you some initial interest. I'd say the Telltale series has a pretty close feeling to the TV show, epsecially episode 2, all the plotting and intrigue and backstabbing, you usually go down that route eventually, but if you're not into that setup you can always make different decisions, so you really make the plot how you want it!
The show definitely helps, but the cool thing about Telltale games is you make your own story, so it doesn't matter! It can feel like a totally different game if you want it! And when you get later into the series I bet it'll be less about the show and more about the decisions you made - most of the characters in this game are new, so it's new to most of us.
So ultimately the plot is brand new, and the TV show is like extra information.
I know people who have played this game with no background information on the series and have understood it pretty well, but I'm not gonna lie and I have to say this game appeals best to fans of the universe.
If you didn't like the show but still want to give this game a try, maybe watch a couple of playthroughs and see how much you understand or maybe even try the book series (which are amazing).
Yeah - Telltale made the game to cater for the Game of Thrones audience for sure, more positive reviewers from them expecting certain things to happen in a GOT game, so the tone and situations are gonna be similar.
Great video, subbed, you do reviews often?
Thanks buddy! I'm actually doing one right now, sticking around on more Game of Thrones content, but yeah, reviews are an awesome format.
Since the release of the most recent part in the story, I figured I'd bring up my last review on Episode 2 while I get down to making another one on episode 3 - check it out! Let me know what you think it's like in comparison to episode 3, and feel free to give any pointers on what kind of stuff to focus on this time around.
cool! pretty deep
I subbed a while ago but you should upload more! I like your style
No. It isnt.