Game of Thrones - Early Reviews

Dhruin

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A small collection of reviews are out for Game of Thrones, though it's hard to get a bead on the underlying quality of the gameplay. All agree the title lacks polish, however.
IGN was first out as discussed on our forums with a very low 4/10, though many of the complaints are cosmetic and the combat is "surprisingly robust" :
While Game of Thrones boasts some expertly crafted story beats, complete with moments that will enthrall and shock you, the monotone delivery from poorly voiced characters, constant bugs you’ll wrestle against, and muddy textures that plague the majority of the game will make most not continue through to the end. Realistically, you’ll more likely stop after the fifteenth loading screen appears only to trigger another dryly executed piece of this messy 30 hour long RPG. That’s a shame as the tale told about Mors Westford and Alester Sarwyck has twists and turns that would utterly entertain and surprise were it not surrounded by such mediocrity on all sides.
Joystiq says "broken, bowed, bent", with a score of 2.5/5:
Unlike the strategy title A Game of Thrones: Genesis, the RPG Game of Thrones feels like it was cobbled together by people who have genuine affection for the series. But Cyanide's ideas themselves seem more grand than the company is capable of delivering, showing stitches of the small studio's limitations throughout. It's the intention of the HBO series – with the budget of a SyFy original movie.
ComplexGaming goes against the trend with a score of 9/10. I don't know the site but here is a snip:
Watching the two protagonists get sucked down in an ever more dangerous whirlwind of intrigue, lies and betrayal is easily the game's most compelling aspect. I even found myself returning to previous saves in desperate bids to alter the course of events, like turning back the pages of the books and having things turn out differently.
Unfortunately, besides the five-flavored ending, altering the course of the game's events is about as easy as altering what's in the novels. It makes for a great plot, though ultimately you might feel that your choices are meaningless. Of course, given the source material, that may be the point.
More information.
 
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I have begun playing the game and i love it….. (however I may be biased as I am a big fan of the series)….
But reading the IGN and Joystiq review makes me already despise these big so-called gaming sites all they care for are big AAA titles….

Its doesn`t take a genius to figure out that Of course Game of thrones RPG is no AAA title with a big budget but from my POV the game is crafted with a lot of love and it captures the feeling of the books…..and just as the last review mentioned above said….. the first parts I got from the story were really promising….

To me it feels and plays a like a cross between the witcher (emphasis on story and dialogue, a lot of cutscenes) and Dragon Age (combat and skills/attributes) alas with a smaller budget….. however having super-duper graphics/sound whatsoever is really not important for me…. story and atmosphere is what i am looking for in games... and that is where this game seems to shine (at least in my first 6 hours into the game)

So from my point of view its worth giving the game a chance if you like RPGs with a big emphasis on story …….. I got i from Gamersgate.com for 40 $

so if you have any questions feel free to ask…
 
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I have begun playing the game and i love it….. (however I may be biased as I am a big fan of the series)….
But reading the IGN and Joystiq review makes me already despise these big so-called gaming sites all they care for are big AAA titles….

Its doesn`t take a genius to figure out that Of course Game of thrones RPG is no AAA title with a big budget but from my POV the game is crafted with a lot of love and it captures the feeling of the books…..and just as the last review mentioned above said….. the first parts I got from the story were really promising….

To me it feels and plays a like a cross between the witcher (emphasis on story and dialogue, a lot of cutscenes) and Dragon Age (combat and skills/attributes) alas with a smaller budget….. however having super-duper graphics/sound whatsoever is really not important for me…. story and atmosphere is what i am looking for in games… and that is where this game seems to shine (at least in my first 6 hours into the game)

So from my point of view its worth giving the game a chance if you like RPGs with a big emphasis on story …….. I got i from Gamersgate.com for 40 $

so if you have any questions feel free to ask…

considering the reviews and lackluster reception, it'll probably hit the under-$20 section soon enough, I'll probably give it a try then (and hopefully it'll have a couple of patches under the belt)
 
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Isn't this sentence just a case of a hater: "It's the intention of the HBO series – with the budget of a SyFy original movie."

If it wasn't, he could exclude the HBO part and just say that the game had SyFy crap... um... original!... movie budget.
 
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Isn't this sentence just a case of a hater: "It's the intention of the HBO series – with the budget of a SyFy original movie."

If it wasn't, he could exclude the HBO part and just say that the game had SyFy crap… um… original!… movie budget.

No - I think he's making a point that the game had grand and good intentions. That's not more "hater" than how you suggest putting it; it actually seems far less so.
 
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Good story but not much choice in how it plays out? Sounds a bit JRPG to me.
 
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JRPG Story: 8-12 year old boy is destined to save the world! He has a girlfriend and a friend and a pet! 20-80 hours of grinding re-coloured slimes and twelve generic plot twists later, the world is saved.
 
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For the reviews, seems like the xbox and PS3 version have way more bugs than the PC version I'm playing.

Good story but not much choice in how it plays out? Sounds a bit JRPG to me.

If the Witcher 1 is a JRPG, than this is a JRPG.
 
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Been playing for a little while now - already enough to see a 4/10 is bullshit. It's probably a 6/10 on most people's scales (probably a 7/10 scaled to other IGN reviews). For fans of Martin's world and writing it's probably quite a bit higher. The story is good but the gameplay is a bit weak and the production values are on the cheap side for sure. If you're a voracious consumer of Game of Thrones stuff and love the world, you'll probably find something worthwhile. If you're not then yeah you probably should save your money and pledge to a promising sounding kickstarter that tickles your fancy instead.

For what it's worth, it looks a thousand times better on a modest game-capable PC than it does on the xbox 360. It still doesn't look particularly good mind you, but the visual quality isn't as offensive as it is in the IGN video review.
 
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cmon ppl, any more impressions? I'm still pondering a thought to preorder it since I'm not in NA…
Keep in mind I liked only the first book, the second one was so so, the third book I got bored with and the fourth I tossed away because cba to read more than a half of it. It was more annoying than jrpg respawns. So just tell me can a player who had never read any of that (crap?) like the game or not?
 
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cmon ppl, any more impressions? I'm still pondering a thought to preorder it since I'm not in NA…
Keep in mind I liked only the first book, the second one was so so, the third book I got bored with and the fourth I tossed away because cba to read more than a half of it. It was more annoying than jrpg respawns. So just tell me can a player who had never read any of that (crap?) like the game or not?

Maybe? The primary appeal to this is the writing and getting to see/learn bits about the world. If the series doesn't particularly interest you and you're not a big fan of the world and its lore then this game probably isn't going to rivet you.
 
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I read the books like 10 years ago, so I don't remember much (good thing, that way I get to enjoy the series better), but I do remember I abandoned the series, maybe when I realized there were more books coming and not an ending any time soon (and that was 10 years ago LOL, good call me!)
 
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I have never read the books or watched the shows enough to know whats going on and I am enjoying the game immensely.

first off, the graphics and voice acting are fine. (pc version) I have no idea why reviews are making such a big deal about it. I haven't run into any bugs, graphical glitches or audio cutting out. I've only completed 3 chapters though so I can't comment on the rest.

I am really enjoying this game but I have a feeling it will fail. Not because it's bad but because it has a steep learning curve and a lot of stuff to learn. Also, I think the action crowd will complain about having to pause all the time.

There is a lot of complexity to this game. You have attributes, skills, traits, classes, stances, different kinds of weapons are effective against different kinds of armor (and it does matter unlike in other games), You play as 2 different characters (so far it's alternated chapters) both with different classes and skills to choose. 1 has a dog companion with it's own skill tree, you can take control of it to track people,find hidden loot, attack peoples throats and sense peoples moods. You can also just issue it commands and continue to play your character. The other guy gets red priest abilities which is a whole other skill tree and the ability to find hidden doors.You also can control certain npc's.all the extra abilities i've mentioned need to be manually activated they are not passive, so it really feels like theres a lot to do and can be overwhelming at first. To top all of that off you also have what I call team combo's, such as having the dog attack and taking an enemies shield to weaken it's defenses then have an npc do an attack that causes bleeding and follow that up with your own attack that does extra damage if the enemy is bleeding. There are several of these kinds of combo's.

The story so far is interesting and I have run into a lot of small C&C, although I don't know if taking the other route would lead me to the same outcome. I've also had the opportunity to talk my way out of several fights.

The game is very cut scene and dialogue heavy. I would say 65-35 dialogue to combat so far , although as I said I talked my way out of many fights.

Combat is pretty hard and unforgiving and I've already started over once because I messed up my character build. Imo you can definitely mess your character up if you don't choose skills wisely. Also it's important to use the proper weapon against the right armor. ( cutting vs leather, penetrating vs medium and blunt vs heavy) Make sure to take advantage of team combo's. (disarming, knockdown, bleeding etc.)

My main complaint is there is no way to zoom the camera out. You will most of the time be stuck in OTS view. Sometimes the camera will zoom out a little by itself depending on what angle you tilt it to but you have no way of controlling the zoom. I have found my view totally block on a few occasions.

If you like strategic combat and have the patience to learn all the ins and out of the system I highly recommend this game. If you like to rush in to battles or prefer action combat I would say you should skip this.

Oh and it's pretty linear, its not open world at all. It does seem to have branching story paths though and does have multiple endings.
 
While i agree the story and lore are good i found combat to be dull and simplistic since all you really do is spam cc + whatever damage ability gets a bonus from the cc type you used.
Even though different armor types are vulnerable to different weapons you will do just fine sticking to one weapon type (never swapped out mors's 2h sword myself).
The whole vulnerability thing is also made somewhat pointless by the fact that mob difficulty is usually dependant on armor type (Light=easy, Medium= normal and Heavy = Hard) so simply specializing in weapons that do extra damage to heavy armor gives you bonus dmg to the only mobs you might need it on.
Character creation is pretty good with several options for specializing your character even if you get to fill out most of the talent trees by the end of the game.
Overall the game lacks polish and the visuals never impress but i would still reccomend this to any George RR Martin fan.
Would rate this as a 6 or 7/10 myself and would go so far as to say anyone giving this a 2.5 (like certain "AAA" focused sites) has no buisness reviewing video games of any kind.
 
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like certain "AAA" focused sites
You mean those sites you get 8+/10 in a review - no matter what the game is like, the thing that matters is that you pay for the review? ;)

Seems however that you all had of fun with the game. It's not game of the year material, but who cares as long as it's fun, right?
So I'll preorder it.
Thanks everyone for input.
 
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