Game of Thrones: Episode Six - The Ice Dragon Reviews
Whereas the series suffers from similar narrative choices that the show does, it presents strong and interesting characters with Gared, Rodrik, and Asher in particular. The journey to the mysterious North Grove provided an interesting plot thread similar to the White Walker intrigue, but it is frustrating to get no answers at all for our efforts. It's even more frustrating to see characters like Mira be overlooked as the choices I made and alliances I formed seemed to be irrelevant. Players would like to see some answers to old questions, before being faced with new ones. However, we're stuck waiting for a second season, or a third, or so on if it goes in the style of its inspiration.
It's not been the most consistent series in its debut season from Telltale, but they've certainly saved the best until last. Episode 6 The Ice Dragons is the epic conclusion we've been waiting for.
Misery loves company. And many companies are loving misery these days. Two of the most famous pieces of media currently, Game of Thrones and the Walking Dead, originate in literature, both have adventure game series created by Telltale Games, and both exemplify this line of thinking. They each delight in making their fanbases miserable. In the books (graphic novels) and on the television shows, your favorite families are torn apart and scattered across the world, and your favorite characters are murdered, sometimes seemingly on a whim.
Telltale's Game of Thrones: Episode 6 is a worthy, if slightly underwhelming, ending to the developer's first crack at the subject matter. Perhaps with some time and a little more creative freedom they might be able to craft a truly open-ended story to satisfy even the most finicky of gamers.
Game of Thrones - The Ice Dragon is a good closing chapter for the first season of the video game, managing to deliver some satisfying final moments for the main protagonists and to confound the expectations of players to some extent.
Game of Thrones: Episode Six - The Ice Dragon is a fitting end to the first season, but is anything but a proper conclusion. The decisions are hard, the consequences are gut-wrenching and the stakes are incredibly high. So now you get to sit back and look forward to the next season, knowing that you've been suckered right into committing to it before it has even been announced.
As said in the review of the first episode of Game of Thrones, this was going to be a wild ride, and the final episode proved that. Just about every moment was tense, and there were a few moments where the overall outcome, while still damning, would've played out a bit differently before arriving at that conclusion. Fans who have a better understanding of the George R. R. Martin world will likely be able to cope with how it concluded. Everyone else will be shocked or dismayed. No matter which group you belong to, this series is worth checking out, even if the longer-than-usual wait made it painful to bear.
The Ice Dragon feels like a great setup for a sequel, but lacking as a finale. Although it manages to wrap up some storylines, there's not enough closure and certainly not enough cathartic moments. There's plenty of building for the sequel, however, and with the numerous possible endings, it will be interesting to see how Telltale can incorporate them all into a second season. Although there have been flaws throughout, it's evident that Game of Thrones and Telltale are a good fit. Hopefully, the second season won't be as far away as the sixth book...
Telltale's 'Game of Thrones' does far more than just trade on the good name of the accompanying TV show. In fact, it has nearly surpassed it in storytelling on several occasions over the last year. Even its low points have been entertaining, and I have relished the chance to have my own little story within Martin's sweeping fantasy epic. Like most of Telltale's recent work, the season is worth every penny.
The Ice Dragon mistakes shock and surprise for engaging material. Combined with the typical Telltale technical woes, it leaves behind an underwhelming experience.
The final episode of Telltale's Game of Thrones story is the strongest since the first, with everything coming to a head, all your terrible choices coming back to haunt you, and a few major excruciating ones left to finish things off. However the lack of any real resolution robs the season of feeling like a complete game. Moreover it still shares a lot of the weaknesses of the season as a whole, including the now decidedly unimpressive game engine and the absence of any witty character conversations (that are the hallmark of the show and books). Telltale still tell a good tale, but I think Game of Thrones will go down as the moment they bit off more than they can chew - or at least a licence they can't quite replicate. Still, cracking final episode chums.
Heavy decisions and fun action, but a poor end to an overall enjoyable season
It's been a full four months since Episode Five ended on a massive decision that left players reeling. Given Telltale's past work on the series, it was hard to imagine that Episode Six would actually do right by that decision and manage to wrap the season up in a remotely satisfying way. Sure enough, huge chunks of Episode Six are just as middling as everything else in the season, and on a technical level, it's even worse. Still, there's bright spots throughout the episode, especially with Mira's storyline, that prove enjoyable enough that players who have made it this far should finish it out.
In the end, what should have been the next evolution in Telltale's reputation for brilliant writing and meaningful choices has instead shown how outdated the company's engine and storytelling structure has become.
Damn you Telltale Games and damn you George R. R. Martin because even though this series is quite an emotional ride, you've really made me invested in these characters and when one of them dies, I feel responsible and I guess that's where you succeeded in The Ice Dragon. With a Season 2 already being mentioned by Telltale, let's hope we get some more victories and that our choices have a much more bigger impact on the storyline because I did feel a little let down with the season finale but even so, I still had quite the time!
A disappointing end to a series with promise, Game of Thrones needs likable characters to engage emotion.
Fans of the books and TV series will love taking part in Martin's world.
It's been an tumultuous journey to get to this point, to be sure, but no one person's story in Game of Thrones ever goes quite the way it was envisioned.
Although Telltale's "Game of Thrones" series started out on a promising note, the constant barrage of shocking and depressing developments involving its protagonists will test even the most well-adjusted person. The fact that episode six fails to provide a resolution to House Forrester's story and kicks the can down toward a second season also leaves players hanging. Fans who enjoy Game of Thrones' gritty and brutal storytelling might enjoy the ride. For others, however, the unyielding narrative formula eventually gets a bit old.
Likewise, the season-long trial for Gared Tuttle to discover the fabled "North Grove" detailed by his family also comes to its conclusion, with its end in particular providing plenty of promise and airs of spectacle. While Gared's storyline was never in particular one of my favorites in the series – given its heavy resemblance to that of Jon Snow's in the television series – the finale provides some great closure in Gared's story, despite his action having been so secluded from the rest of the Forrester clan in comparison. Despite some of the more uneven aspects of the series as a whole – its mixed visual style and its sometimes over reliance on recreating events similar to the original television series – "The Ice Dragon" proves to be a finale as satisfying as much as it is incredibly bloody and heartbreaking in many ways. Though Game of Thrones' experience wasn't always at the level of some of Telltale's previous efforts like The Walking Dead or this year's Tales from the Borderlands, Episode 6 brings the Forrester's tale to a close, but leaves more than a few loose ends to clearly suggest that their tale may be able to continue for additional seasons. Even though winter is coming, it's clear that the Forrester's tale of vengeance and redemption is just beginning.