No Branching Story Plots?
I've checked thoroughly. There does not seem to be any branching story plots. The choose your own adventure books from my youth had more of a branching story plot than Tell Tale Games. I am a huge Game of Thrones fan but this is a deal breaker for me.
Your actions in-game almost always seem to have the same end. Now I have only done the first two episodes but when I play it again with different decisions not much changes. You will occasionally get "this guy will remember that". However, this does not affect or go into a branching story plot at all. I am assuming all the endings are the same regardless. If this is the case...then I am done with Tell Tale Games. Does anyone have any information on this? Thank you.
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Welcome to TellTale can we take your order?
The usual choices dont matter? Ok, one hot choice doesnt matter coming up !
Yes, everyone here has gone through this exact same thing at least 100 times.
It's the journey not the destination.
You should've done research on Telltale before you bought the game, if you went any where people would tell you this. If this was your first and last Telltale game then alright, don't know why you made an account just to say this.
It's not branching.
You assume your choices will result in a radically different outcome. They don't.
If you read the little thing that begins episodes, you will see that it says 'This story is tailored by how you play'. Now if you know anything about sewing, you would know tailoring is changing the design of an outfit. The fabric doesn't change, but the design does somewhat. Tailoring it is limited, by makes it unique.
Choose your own adventure books take time to craft. And they are books, not a video game that has to have voice acting, and animations and can get glitches.
If you are done just because the stories don't branch, goodbye. Your choice will not effect the outcome of us.
Listen Poogers, I copyrighted that. :P
pls dont sue me ;-;
If they were doing what everyone seems to expect, like branching everything out, then expect a new Episode every three years.
It should be clear that it won't happen, otherwise it would take far too long to produce, plus it would be cumulative, so the waiting time would get longer and longer.
Also, the game is still bound by canon, so the outcome has to be the same, and the main plot points also.
You can only have one thing: A really branched out Episode every 2-3 years (with waiting times getting longer and longer every Episode), or a still great story where your choices don't influence that much every 2 months.
I just might have to friend...
Why is bound to canon? I say this because you pkay literally a family worth character(s) at some point at least one of them should come across a set of circumstances that should be able to change cannon in someway.
I think the next tell tale release I will just watch youtube videos. Moving forward, I really can't justify spending 30 dollars on something that is usually at most six hours long and lets face it isn't a game. Before you mention them being small A) As a consumer thats not my problem
Companies like CD Project of similar size still manage to make amazing games.
1) Telltale's products were never meant to be choose your own adventures. They're one single story, with minor variations that can occur due to choices. The same as with many other games, like Mass Effect, Dragon Age etc. The Witcher 2 is an exception.
2) Yeah, about the choose your own adventure books . . . You want their games to be like this?
http://flowingdata.com/2009/08/11/choose-your-own-adventure-most-likely-youll-die/
(A full size version of the chart here, without the text: http://flowingdata.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/CYO-2-Flowchart_8.pdf)
The shortest path has a whopping 5 steps, with 3 choices. Longest 26 steps, 17 choices. 42 endings.
So, do you want Telltale Games to produce games/stories that take twenty minutes to play through in their entirety just so you can get true story branching? While that might be an exaggeration, that's essentially what you'd be getting. A very short playthrough when people, heaven knows why, already complain about the length. Should I also say that you could possibly lose out on story cohesion and some paths may not be as good? Also, many people won't see all of the content? The choose your own adventure books weren't, from what I remember, exactly serious stories either and could be quite wacky with hunting down a mythological creature, then suddenly encountering aliens.
Essentially, you expect too much. It's a question of workload, finances and schedule. If you really want true branching, then Telltale has to essentially make multiple games. How, exactly, are they meant to do that in two - three months? And believe me, if a book can't offer substantial branching stories (as in length), then a video game with 2 - 3 months to make sure as hell can't. And what if they did miraculously manage to give you the branching you crave? People would complain about the shortness. (You might want to play through the free games on choice of games' website as well. You'll see they're one single story, with minor variations, yet they're text based)
If it helps however, I feel they definitely handle choices better in GoT. Options are actually not available because of past choices. Asked for help in episode 1? You won't get aid in episode 2, as one example, and numerous people have asked how to secure a marriage, indicating that choices have more weight than in previous Telltale products, even if things will likely still move in the same overall direction.
Also, this is something that bothers me, but are the stories of films, tv shows and linear books automatically devalued because there's no choice?
Where it really falls flat is multiple play thorough where you see the shallowness and ridiculousness of the choices first hand. If you play it once you at least have the false impression that things may play out a different way if you acted differently.
You bring up tailoring and to be perfectly honest I think thats a great example. If the choices are not meant to be important don't present them as such. Maybe let the player change Mira dress and shoes and have the characters comment on her sense of style. Don't present the choices as potentially narrative/plot changing when they are not.
To be fair, having a game that sticks to canon can be more appealing to a lot of fans. They will enjoy the fact that the story that they already know and love is actually happening and taking place outside of this new story. I wouldn't be as much as a fan of this game tbh if I knew I could do ridiculous things like change the outcome of the Red Wedding or murder Joffrey with my own two (virtual) hands.
Um, yes they are? They are point-and-click, interactive story/adventure games. Nothing more, nothing less.
Where did you EVER get the information that this would be a game with branching story plots?
It seems you have nothing positive to say of TellTale. Why are you still here then?
Well considering how weak the Forresters are written it hard to consider them changing the outcome of the Red Wedding or being able to murder Jeoffrey. So there's that. Truth be told I would settle for the Forreters being able to change their own destiny in a meaningful way rather then worry about Joffrey or the Red Wedding.
Look we will agree to disagree here. I wouldn't classify visual novels as a game (though some may) and thats basically all Telltale games are with cutscenes and an occasional quicktime event thrown in, I obviously wouldn't watch a youtube version of a good visual novel because it would run 20-50+ hours and have branching storylines. Telltale however I find their episodes are at most an hour and if I'm not agonizing over their faux choice maybe 45 mins, I'm sorry but knowing that there is very little replayability and the uniqueness of own play through would be limited I'd rather just watch it on youtube.
No recent TellTale game has ever had an episode only be one hour long.
CDProjekt Red makes RPGs. Not adventure\interactive movies. Their games also take years to make versus the 2 - 3 months that Telltale have to deliver the episode, so do you see the difference?
And no, it's not your problem. But that's a bit of a stupid thing to say, considering you're not forced to buy TTG's products and such.
Just as everyone mentioned, the story of their games are linear.
What differs are dialogues and outcomes.
Choice of games stories tend to be more than just minor variations. Many of the stories there employ a delayed branching setup that can make each game vastly different but always ends up in the same places. Of course, it depends on the story and author. I would like for telltale to do more delayed branching like this.
The episode releases suck and are a choice of Telltale, not the consumer. You can't use the short time frame they have to release the episode as a point against a consumer expecting too much when the problem is in the short window to release. Of course, the episode model is obviously doing well enough that they don't need to change it otherwise it would have been changed already.
"Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series......Your story begins" Implies that your choices would make the story unique.
"You will take on the role of different members of the Forrester household, and determine their fate through the choices you make; your actions and decisions will change the story around you." Self-explanatory.
"Telltale's games offer a 'tailored story' meaning that the story you experience could be very different to someone else playing the game. This is because the story changes around you based on the choices that you make." -Self explanatory.
Source: www.telltalegames.com/gameofthrones
It isn't that difficult to understand why people think the game will actually alter based on choices they make.
You haven't experienced the whole game yet. If, after playing all episodes, there is minimal branching, I would say you have a valid complaint. I will say though that the potential for branching towards the end of the game is very high and I look forward to that point. I think with all the many different choices being made by multiple characters, we are in for a couple branches that may alter the game quite a bit.
Yes, they use delayed branching. Yes, there might be more differences from choices and unique scenes. But you still see the same broad story arc, as you mentioned with saying 'ends up in the same places' and you're very much right it depends on the author (even from work to work). I was speaking generally. Tin Star, for instance, a part of the Hosted Games label, is 1.5 million words long and you only see 80k or so of that. Case in point while we're talking about this, Choice of the Vampire 2 was 200 - 300k+ words long. Yet because only 20k or so words are seen, people complained it was too short.
Regardless, I'm going to drop out here. I really cannot be bothered with the choice debate and funnily enough, I do have plans to begin work on an interactive story using choicescript. You can bet I'll do my best to make sure the choices lead to differences, should I ever finish. (No idea what story yet.)
Yeah no unfortunately that's the one part that is a bit of a life. Not completely because you do get different reactions but it doesn't make a huge difference. Even in TWD it's more how well you can convince someone to go with you somewhere or avoiding a fight. But still, the end result is the same.
With other Telltale Games (The Walking Dead: Season 2) there was multiple endings based on your choices. I'm hoping Telltale are doing that to make our choices matter more. With the choices in Episode 2 of GoT, I'm hoping they'll have different consequences. We can only wait and see, really. But with a big budget like they have with this game, the definitely have the chance to make our decisions matter in later episodes.
Except none of that implies differing story plots.
I read that earlier and I appreciate that comment since I have no knowledge about sewing. My post was more so in answering why people think the plots branch. It is typically fan boys who belittle upset consumers for not getting facts about the game or relying on their own expectations for a studio's reputation. The way it is marketed makes it seem very clear that your choices actually matter. I do believe that choices will matter later in the game though and branching plots will appear.
I couldn't disagree with you more because it 100% does. Here is one specific quote: "determine their fate through the choices you make" If the plot does not differ based on choices made and the Forrester's fate is always the same in each play through then they lied. I think choices will matter later on (marrying that one girl as an example), don't get me wrong, however the marketing of the game does imply that your choices actually matter. So far, choices have mattered very little and I think the OP's concern is justifiable, if not a little overreacting due to the game not even being half way complete yet.
Cool, I am a member over on those forums and always appreciate those who take the plunge of writing interactive fiction. It takes dedication, which isn't always easy when writing can't be a full time position. I wish you luck on that endeavor and hope to see something from you in the future.
"Fate" does not mean "dead or alive". Whenever people try to use that argument, they lose all credibility. They didn't lie at all, if they did, they wouldn't be selling their game as much as they are. In any case, who the hell cares about how much your choices affect the game? It's about the story.
I'm a sucker for Game of Thrones.
again
i must be the guy to say
who cares tho
who cares
All that is telltale choice. I'm just tired of this indie can't make great games argument that some of you parrot around. CD Projekt makes amazing games. Bioware even before they got bought out made amazing games. Larian studios makes pretty damn good games and only has 40-50 employees.
I'm pretty sure no one has said Telltale doesn't make great games here except for you.
Once again I don't care about what Telltale has to do. Other companies manage to make compelling games and even if we are not talking about a branching narrative they still provide a chance to shape the journey.
There is verry little of that in telltale games. Don't pick up the chest? Your partner does it for you. Choose to save blank blank dies shortly afterwards. Bow kneel you get murdered what every you say or do. If Telltale is just going to progress the journey a certain way why bother creating the dialogue options at all?
As far as your other point regarding tv shows linear bookes etc there is absolutely nothing wrong with them at all but they then again they are not presenting themselves as something they are not.
That is a gigantic leap to assume I meant dead or alive and is actually not what I meant at all. Their fate, so far, is not really changed one way or another due to choices made...yet. Feel free to prove me wrong though.
On the point about lying....that is a joke right? I wont even get into the thousands of examples of game developers who have lied yet still make a bundle on the game. That is ultimately beside the point because the game is not complete. They still have time to make good on their promise that you can actually change the family's fate through the choices the player makes.
Well thats just false as their metacritc score of 75 for the first episode and 74 for the second one would indicate.
Look I'm not telling you how to feel if you think Telltale games are amazing I disagree but you are certainly welcome to your opinion. Just don't tell me Telltale can't do blank and make excuses for them.
You shouldn't say things when they aren't true. Since when is a 75 and 74 not great? And I've read some of the reviews, and most of those people didn't do very simple research before purchasing something and it's clear others just bought it because it had "Game of Thrones" in the title. I would not consider those kinds of reviews reliable at all.
You can also look at other reviews, which have been 8/10 and higher. And I agree with @shellturtleguy , 75 isn't a bad score at all.
And if you don't think Telltale Games are good and just want to hate on their decisions, then just stop posting on the forums. We have enough hate here as it is.
http://www.metacritic.com/about-metascores
Also those numbers I quoted aren't the user score but the aggregated critic score for the PC version.
I don't care what they are. You're trying to make the game seem worse than it is because you're not satisfied with it. I don't care if you don't like the game and neither does anybody else here.