Focus Home and Cyanide released a batch of screenshots today for its upcoming spin on A Game of Thrones. Now, it’s true, we don’t normally post screenshots but I thought this was a bit topical since the show just started. Plus, hey we may start posting more screenshots and this seemed a good time to start.
Speaking of, what did everyone think of episode 1?
On to the pics…
These new screenshots show off the coast of Dorne where Queen Nymeria and her people landed, as well as the troops of House Tyrell confronting House Lannister.
Click on the image for a high res screen.
If nothing else, the show probably has the single coolest opening credits sequence evar.
The first episode of this kind of series is usually kind of boring – all the characters have to be introduced and the groundwork set – and in this respect Game of Thrones was no exception. Pacing is really going to make or break this show. The plot is a known quantity and I’m eager to see it unfold, but if there’s too much pageantry and not enough substance I can see viewers tuning out.
That said, this show seems a lot better than Boardwalk Empire, which was a lemon that people made themselves believe was a lemon drop, so I’ve got my fingers crossed for it.
HBO shows always have good opening credit sequences. I think their best ever was for John Adams. I found the first episode of Game of Thrones to be pretty interesting. A lot of the characters aren’t who I pictured in my head reading the books though (though curiously George R.R. Martin looks almost exactly as I pictured he would be). And since I don’t have HBO (they did a free preview weekend just as the show launched) I’ll have to find another way to see the rest of the episodes. It was good enough that I’m willing to put in at least that much effort.
This game looks awesome. Added to my “watch for it” list.
Three comments:
1) I suspect it’s going to be hard for a budget RTS based on GOT to differentiate itself in anyway. By GRRM’s own design, the world of GOT is not very different from standard medieval fare so besides some unique settings (the Wall) and some backstory, I’m hard pressed to believe the game will be very interesting.
2) Ep 1 was slow and there was a lot of set up, but man, it was incredibly gorgeous to watch. I’m also really sold on the family dynamics (children and all) of the Stark family because there is some truly great chemistry going on there. However, I’m a big fan of the books (as a person who doesn’t enjoy fantasy very much) so my opinion frankly doesn’t matter as much as the non-readers in terms of are people going to return.
3) I think the Boardwalk Empire comparison is actually pretty fair in terms of the style of storytelling (ultra serialized), but I had a very high opinion of that show for the most part during the fall. Excellent acting, production values, and a very good story arc overall.
I really love it so far. The show is highly entertaining with great acting and a great setting.
I’m not in love with how prominent the nudity is though. Sex isn’t something that I’m bugged about, but I feel like they’re forcing it into the show, e.g. advertisements for a game like Evony and rated R movies that try to be racy for the sake of ratings.
I’m probably in the minority here, but take the movie “The Last Samurai” for example. Towards the end there was somewhat a connection with Tom Cruise’s character and the widow of the home he stayed in. The movie was R and they could have easily thrown in a sex scene or romance option, but they didn’t because it would’ve felt forced.
In Braveheart it worked, it totally worked, both sex scenes were integral parts of the movie.
The opening credits were pretty damn cool. Agreement!
Yeah. Some of the sex is just a part of the story, but it’s pretty clear they’re not passing up any chance to show some nip.
I bounced off the first book quite hard, so coming from a position of complete ignorance (which is perfect for writing stuff on the internet, amiright?)
– sad about the hot guy getting killed in the prologue
– happy about all the other hotties
– “The things I do for love” OMG!!!!!!!!
I like this one.
Well, since you asked…. *ahem*
—I’ll try to keep it spoiler-free, but there may be a couple clues in there for the future I guess for newcomers if nothing else – as I hold little control over where my rants take me. —-
The opening credits were awesome, yet didn’t fit with the series at all for me.
The actors all looked the part, delivered the lines they had well and the design on all the locations etc were excellent.
A few Unsullied guarding Ilyrio’s place was a nice touch.
Neither Targaryen’s eyes being purple is just sloppy
They completely screwed up the finding of the direwolf scene in so many ways. Not in the scene itself, but in the implications and the greater meaning behind it. Can’t discuss without spoilers, but those that have read it should know where I’m at on this.
‘You have 5 true born children’ line would have worked a lot better if Rickon existed in the show. I don’t expect much, but a sentence about how he’s too young to be in the crowd or just showing him in the line-up when the King comes down isn’t too much to ask, they may as well be keeping him in a cage otherwise… (unless I missed him?)
Not having the actual courtyard practice scene kind of hurts it as well for the future, as it sets up some motivations in the near and farther out future and gives a sense of character all its own. understandable if it needed cut though. Throwing in the Arya one does show some of the ‘spunkiness’ they’re trying to show I guess, but her battle against those norms was an important part of her character that we got to witness that’s now a starting point given as opposed to something earned -not to mention the implied attitude towards it all being problematic at best from the character building standpoint.
Tied to that is the lack of character building at all on the ancillary characters and some of the main. I’m not arguing for a lot, but is it that hard to give Theon a few lines to underscore his status as an ass, let alone a bit of an outsider himself. Arya and Jon relating to each other as the outsiders of the family proper trying to struggle against their stations in life is lost with Arya seeming more a brat and Jon seeming overly emo instead. The characters in the show always only interacted with one person at a time and only to the people in focus at the moment I suppose was the issue there maybe. Not a bad thing to have focus, but it’s a broad story and stopping it for only one person or pair at a time while ignoring the others is ignoring one of the strengths of the series.
Making Tyrion love sex as opposed to loving whores is a big misstep for his character.
No line about the flowers from Ned in the Lyanna crypt visit bothers me for that scene, as it implied quite a lot.
Eliminating Drogo’s tenderness towards Dany in private was rather a problem as well, but I’d imagine they’re saving that for future episodes to pad it out.
…..you’d think I hated it by all this and I think there’s even more, but it’s actually quite a lot better than I had hoped in spite of my myriad of complaints. What they did wrong just jumps out at me far more than most, I guess.
Rickon was in the show. He was on a fence laughing at Bran during the archery scene, and on the our right (Cat’s left) during the king’s arrival.
Had his hair ruffled by the king when he came in. That’s probably the closest he had to a part in the pilot.
Rome’s first episode was FULL of nudity and while it still had a bunch of nudity throughout it never quite approached the first episode.
Not! We can talk about that a bit later. Pilot episodes are always kind of off.
These screenshots just scream Age of Empires II to me. I don’t know if this is good or bad because it’s Cyanide. I’m still afraid of them developing.
It also looks like a Stronghold game. Not sure how that makes me feel. I can’t determine if my impressions are based on the fact that both of those are fantasy RTS games or if it just looks like old game design.