My biggest disappointment with Guardians.
So Guardians sadly hasn't really been working for me so far, I find the humor to be sub par and pretty flat all around, the characters are boring, the story is boring, the writing is just kind of there and doesn't have a lot of spark to it, and the music and action scenes do absolutely NOTHING for me.
But I could easily forgive all of that if the game itself knew it was doing and what it was...but it sadly doesn't.
I'm sorry guys, but Guardians of the Galaxy is probably the most uncreative modern TTG game I've ever seen due to how it's trying so hard to be just like the films right down to the tone, pacing, characterizations, world, lore, it's practically an imitation and a rather lazy one in my eyes. The thing that I've always admired about Telltale making games based on big franchises like this is that they always put their own take on it to make it feel fresh and stand out somewhat from what the game is based on.
Let's look at Tales from the Borderlands, Telltale took the Borderlands world, lore, and SOME of its referential humor to accommodate a script that was more along the lines of something out of Firefly, Shaun of the Dead, and some Guardians for good measure. It all worked to create something DIFFERENT and more grounded compared to the looter shooters.
In Wolf Among Us, Telltale turned the Fable universe in a gritty neo noir thriller where everything feels dirty and less whimsical and I've even heard from a few people that Telltale made Bigby into a more grounded and relatable character compared to the source material.
In Walking Dead S1, Telltale created original characters and told an original storyline that essiently applied the TV show's pacing to Robert Kirkman's comic book world.
Telltale's Batman speaks for itself, it's TELLTALE'S Batman and it knows that.
With Guardians though, everything feels just like the films except not as good or as clever or fresh, just boring and flat. Hell, freaking Minecraft Story Mode is more creative compared to Guardians so far because at least Telltale are actually adding things to Minecraft instead of imitating it right down to the bone.
I'm also not real sure what exactly Guardians is, it takes a lot of elements from the films but it's not really based on them nor is it in canon with them nor is it in canon with the recent comics. I guess it's based on the recent comics but it's still not in canon with them, I don't know, I'm just always left confused. Even then it still feels like a wasted opportunity that Telltale didn't even try to do their own take on this material. Wouldn't it have been more interesting if Telltale combined old Star Lord with new Star Lord? Where old Star Lord from the pre-film comics has super powers but still has that innocent child like attitude from the films or have Gamora be like Drax personality wise, or perhaps have Groot speak in full sentences like he did in the old pre-filmGuardians comics, or heck, have Yondu be the bone arrow fish man instead of the blue man ravenger like he is in the movies.
I'm just so disappointed that Telltale just took the safe and bland route with this and aren't doing that great of a job at mimicking it at the same imo. I get that that this is long, I might end up annoying some fans of this game and I know the series isnt over yet but my point stills stand that this could have easily been a more interesting take as opposed to some bland retread that doesn't take alot of chances with its narrative or characters so far.
Comments
Well you certainly took a 180 after solid impressions from the first 2 episodes. Yeesh.
I'll just say that I disagree with everything said and leave it at that.
I've always felt this way ever since Episode 1.
Not true. Its fine to not like something as it continues but you started out fairly positive.
That was more so a surprise that it wasn't bad as the hype was stating it was considering my expectations were pretty low.
What I actually meant with my "I've always felt" comment is that despite not hating the first episode as much as everyone else, it still felt rather bland and bit like a lazy cash grab in some regard.
Besides, my opinion changed and the more I looked back on Episode 1, the more I disliked it.
I only agree with the fact that part of the plot doesn't seem to be going anywhere yet (as I found that the Eternity Forge still has no explanation as to what it does other than revive stuff) but I think Episode 3 and that mysterious temple will rectify that.
Other than that, I don't really agree with what you say.
But, enjoyment is subjective so I won't hate on you for it. At least you gave some explanation.
Edit: Alhough, freelance's post up above does give some confusion to your sudden change.
My disappointment is mostly coming from how Telltale had many opportunities to make Guardians their OWN unique thing like Batman instead of just creating something people have have already seen or experienced making it altogether uninteresting.
Well, Guardians isn't something that has a lot of elements that is considered common knowledge.
Many people only know them from the movies.. And from there there isnt much to put a spin on.
As someone who knows little of Guardians, and only knows them from mostly the movies and a few comics I checked out because I was curious... I think this series is still good. It has original elements like the Forge, features an interesting mysterious villain that probably isn't common knowledge to people, and does put their spin on things as evidenced by killing Thanos in the first episode.
So, I don't think Telltale needs to "make this their own" as most people probably don't know what the common story of the Guardians is. Therefore, many changes to villains and such may get overlooked.
I feel they've introduced enough things that the movies haven't done yet that separates them from that medium. And I like it.
Yeah I feel like I'm playing a cheap version of the movie. Despite everyone celebrating the length of the episodes and the hubs, it simply isn't very inspired or unique.
Most of the "common knowledge" is from the films and Telltale are just doing a MAJOR disservice to themselves by restricting everything to be JUST LIKE the films.
They could have easily implemented familiar elements BUT add their own flavor to the characters just like they did with Batman. The Guardians comics did this all the time before the film came out. Heck, the film practically did this kind of thing.
So far, Telltale haven't really done anything to differienate themselves from the films aside from killing Thanos which was kind of lame from a story perspective but whatever. The Rocket Flashback was okay but I once again am so confused on what universe this series takes place in. The Eternity Forge isn't anything new to Guardians because it effectively functions as the story's macguffin that everybody is after which was already done in Guardians 1.
No matter what they do for the upcoming episodes, it will still feel like an uninspiring lazy cash in on the films and Telltale should be better than that. It's practically Jurassic Park all over again.
Aside from enjoying the villain, who I originally thought was a Telltale made character kinda like lady Arkham but is actually an obscure Marvel character, I pretty much agree this season has been very dull for the most part to the point that I completely forgot that it has been a couple months since episode 2.
I wish the created their own lore with the franchise, because star lord and his crew has set characteristic and you kinda know who they are, but I do feel they missed an opportunity to be unique and different. the plot so far is interesting and I hope ep3 makes this series shine, otherwise its pretty dead discussion wise
It already is dead discussion-wise.
I'm sure we'll have some much more interesting discussions here after the release of EP3, but I don't expect it to get any more populated here than it already is, unfortunately.