Episode 5 Discussion and Choices (SPOILERS)

Kind of surprised no one's talking about this as episode 5 had a fantastic ending. I'm not 100% sure about what the major choices are in this episode since I've just marathoned episodes 1-5 and they've kind of blurred together.

I'm not a big fan of the Mira stuff since I already have so much information from the books and the show about Cersi and Tyrion. I ended up telling Tyrion that Cersi sent me because I couldn't really see Cersi actually helping out, and I didn't feel Mira could lie convincingly to Tyrion.

I fought the Asian (or whatever race he was in GoT land) pit fighter and didn't kill him and helped him back up because why not.

The traitor was the main reason I came to the forums. The way Talia reveals it to you and then the actual reveal makes it seem like it could be a different person depending on your decisions. For me it was Royland and his reasons meshed perfectly with how his character would react to the decisions I made. Could it have also been Duncan? I ended up not killing him and also didn't promise Talia that I'd murder him.

The final choice was a doozy and was kind of made for me. I hovered over both of them to hear what people were saying and then when I hovered over Asher again it locked it in but I was probably leaning towards him anyway. I've got a good thing going with Elaena and think it's better for the house not to lose another lord.

The thing that bothered me about the episode was Gryff. I beat him to within an inch of his life during the last episode and he went to the cells screaming that he couldn't see, but here he is without a mark on him?

I had absolutely no idea this was even out.

Oofa doofa, that ending. I had Asher stay behind and the goodbye at the gate between him and Beskha was rough. The whole ending was probably the best moment of the series so far. I knew Asher was the right choice because the house couldn't afford to lose its lord but he was also,by far, my favorite character so it was a heartbreaker to see him go. At least, I got a kill a bunch of the fuckers before I went out.

As far as the other choices,

• I didn't try to stab Ramsey. The house was already in deep shit as it is. Sometimes you just have to swallow your pride.
• I spared Bloodsong. He was a good fighter and I needed good fighters.
• I didn't tell Tyrion that Cersei sent me but he figured it out pretty much immediately anyway. I assume this choice is gonna come back later. I hope Tyron doesn't hold grudges.
• I imprisoned the traitor (Royland, in my game). I was ready to kill him until he said that he had information regarding Asher. Talia was pissed at me because I promised I would kill him but it made sense to get the information if I could. She'll get over it.

Yeah, I'm not sure if people in this community aren't that interested in the game or if most of the mare waiting for all of it to be out to marathon it or what but discussion hit a lull after episode one for whatever reason.

Oh and yeah, the traitor can be either Royland or Duncan, I think it depends on who you give the bracer too in EP1 but it might differ a bit more, not sure.

I'm with you on that being the best moment so far, and by best I mean worst, and by worst I mean "OH GOD DON'T MAKE ME CHOOSE WHYYYY." That was suck a strong moment, uhg.

- I didn't try to stab Ramsey through his plus 100 plot armor. I think Telltale is doing such a good job making him be a creep, better then the show in my opinion but I hate his state of invincibility. The stuff back at Kings Landing isn't so bad because it's all just head games and politics and it fits that you wouldn't go around stabbing the Queen or anything but Ramsey is a tad annoying to have come in and fuck with you and you literally can not do anything about it ever.

- Spared Bloodsong, I know in the GOT universe it can be do or die, but the guy is a good fighter, and my Asher is a good guy, goodish, good enough. So I wanted more people on my side through life instead of death.

- I told Tyrion part way though that she sent me, I kind of regret it, he's not in a place of power really, but maybe he has a friend or two on the outside who can help me, I still think it might have been better to go with the Queen, but, I mean, c'mon, he's Tyrion, he's the best, so we'll see how things turn out, I have like no friends left for poor Mira besides the kid.

- Killed traitor (Royland) I had to think about it for a little while but I promised the sister I would, not that it is exactly the best reason to kill the guy, but his betrayer put everything and everyone at risk soooo fuck it.

- Left Asher behind like the both of you. Everything that's gone on in the game so far has been about protecting the family on that side of the world, Asher was sooooo much fun to play as, but the other brother just felt more official, like he needed to survive to hold the glue of the family together. But damn that was a hard one, I don't normally make two saves for Telltale games but I'll have to make an Asher run at some point.

Also there are two plot holes in this episode that seem out of place, or maybe plot holes isn't the right word but notable mistakes.

For people who beat the shit out of Griff, his face is perfectly fine in the final scene, I didn't notice as I held back.
Annnnd I had Quiver (forget his real name right now, Elenas brother) WITH ME when I went to the other families castle, so how in the holy fuck did plot armor Ramsey have him tortured and strung up? That doesn't make any sense.

General inquiry: how are you finding this series overall? I skipped it because I just haven't read or watched any Game of Thrones at all.

1. Have you mostly found you give a shit about the characters, and you care how things go in future episodes?
2. Have they struck a good balance between using book/TV show characters and original characters?

I don't know what to think of TellTale storylines lately, between The Wolf Among Us having massive delays due to rewrites maybe imposed on them, and The Walking Dead Season 2 just being generally uninteresting because just about every new character was lame, had no character arc that went anywhere, and died a few days after you met them so who cares (and then Clem learns the lesson of "fuck it, I dunno, be tough" which I'm pretty sure was what she learned at the end of the first season so seriously what was the point of all this?).

I don't especially like the universe, but I might actually buy Tales from the Borderlands when it is both finished and on sale because I've heard the writing in it is better than it has any right to be, but I'll probably skip Game of Thrones and Minecraft because I have no familiarity or attachment to the source material.

@bisonhero: As far as my opinion goes.

1: I absolutely give a shit about the characters, you jump between multiple characters but they are all part of the same family and they are all fighting for the safety of said family and the choices feel a bit more important to me due to that, in that you aren't just doing something to affect just one or two characters, but everyone in the game really. I've found some of the writing and characterization to top the show at times really, any of those inevitable Game of Thrones moments where you have to choose to choose to kill or save or let someone die have been really stressful because I love the characters I'm dealing with so much. But it is a very objective thing, obviously, maybe to you they would all be annoying twats, but it's much better than TWD2 for instance where you are right, a lot of it was "HEY HERE IS THIS PERS-OHTHEYDIEDLOL" most of the character stick around long enough that they have time for personalities and character traits to form instead of just fodder. I mean it's still Game of Thrones based so lots of stabby stabby murder murder, but I think the characters that count get their due.

2: I haven't read the books yet so if there are any nods to book characters/locations then it will have gone over my head, but they are basing this around the shows lore primarily anyways. So far besides one character I've found the mix to be pretty good, I think the family you play as is a throw away name mentioned once in one of the books? Besides that they are all their own and they feel like they belong in the world, the series isn't over yet, but nothing has happened yet that feels too out of place like a fan fiction or something.
And the characters from the show they are using feel like they make sense, the conversations and meetings you have with them feel like something that could have happened. An audience with the Queen? Makes sense, if you are trying to save your family through political means then it only makes sense The Queen would be involved at some point, Tyrions stuff makes sense as well seeing as how those two were always playing a game of thrones?! (sorry)against one another.
You also have The Mother of Dragons and her side feels right as well, nothing too out of the ordinary, and Jon Snow makes an appearance for a little while his stuff is also fine.
But then there is plot armor fucking Ramsey, if you've caught up on the books and/or show then you know he is still alive so whenever he shows up in the game to terrorize your family you know there is literally nothing you can do about it. The game even makes false promises of "Ohhhh I bet you could do something about it if you waaaanted tooo LOL JOKE NO YOU CAN'T IDIOT FUCK YOU IDIOT LOL" luckily his segments last a few minutes only and then he moves along, but whenever he shows it's just a complete feeling of helplessness which would have made for a great original villain but in plot armor Ramsey just feels cheap.
And once again his only personality is creepy asshole, which is effective, I think even more so than the show at times, but, like, Jesus, even Hitler loved dogs.

Anyways, over all, I've really been enjoying it and connecting with the family in the game as a whole, then again I'll lay out my biases in that I love the Game of Thrones show and I love Telltale games despite their flaws, I still really loved playing TWD2 despite mediocre character development, I just adore these types of games. So take that for what you will.

Tales From The Borderlands is also pretty great, the humor is consistently great and this is from someone who finds the humor in the main Borderlands game mostly mediocre. But the serious bits are pretty well done as well, I find myself surprised but how much I care about the characters in a Borderlands based game. It feels like the game version of a really great adventure comedy, like Guardians of the Galaxy or watching an episode of Futurama or something. Laura Bailey and Troy Baker are killing it.

God damn, what a mess this series is. It seems like from episode-to-episode, hell, scene-to-scene, TellTale's Game of Thrones jumps from an unpolished mess riddled with plot-holes, to an emotionally-investing character drama. You get laughable stuff like Dani immediately fucking you over despite the entire plot-line of the previous episode being about getting her on your side, the sudden introduction of entire casts of (admittedly interesting) characters 5 episodes into a 6-part series, your non-Sentinel advisor being a turncoat DESPITE having the option to fight the Lord of the other side to the death in the previous episode... and then you get the Rodrik/Asher scene at the end, which is probably one of the most impactful moments/choices in a modern TellTale game. I don't know what to think!

Left Asher behind, because even though I much preferred him as a character, I guess I always saw him as more of a fighter than a Lord. I'm hoping his death with provide some good old bloodlust for Beksha and company.

Finn's death was really lame, and a very paper-thin attempt to cover up the fact that TellTale had no idea what to do with his character.

The Gryff thing has really turned me off this series. Come on Telltale, stop being lazy.

It didn't turn me off of the series, I still really enjoy it, but you're right, that's lazy, that's almost inexcusably lazy, if you beat the shit out of Gryff then he should, I don't know, look like he had the shit beat out of him? And if you have the archer guy with you when you went to the castle, then he should still be with you when you get back to town, not suddenly in the hands of Ramsey cause... you know... *waves hands distractedly* For a company about choices in their games its shamefully lazy that they basically retcon away two choices you can make. That's insanely lazy.

I just finished up to this point and I am enjoying the game, late to the discussion but what the hell. I don't feel like there was any way to come out of that Tyrion conversation without Cersi getting pissed. He's too clever to trick and there's a damn guard there listening to everything.

Asher has been a lot of fun and I chose Rodrick (spelling?) to stay behind because at least those pit fighters will answer to Asher. Besides that almost everything I've done with Rod has gone to shit (he's in a pretty lose-lose situation from the start) I mean I tried the submissive thing with Gryff I screwed up the marriage (not sure if that alliance can even be saved) and I kissed the damn ring!

Anyway I know these games usually play out how they want regardless with a few characters optionally dead here and there so I try not to get too hung up on not "winning" every scenario.

Final episode is in a few weeks and I'm ready to kill some Whitehills.

I like this game, but at a certain point I would just rather watch it play out than make the decisions because no matter what I do, bad things happen. That's the way of the game and that's the way of Westeros, but I don't feel like I'm making any decisions that will actually affect the the Forresters' fate. I feel like I'm merely making the decision of who dies last.