Board Game Analysis Review #1 – A Game of Thrones
|
Introduction: (Link: http://gamecactus.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/board-game-analysis-a-game-of-thrones/) – – – When my group played the game, it felt like the Power Tokens were the most important The most interesting System: I played a house that was at the bottom of the King’s Court Influence track at the start, which resulted in me not being able to use any Order Tokens with a star on them. I also started the game at the far end of the Iron Throne Influence track, which meant that most of the other players got to execute their orders before I got to. However, I was at the top of the Fiefdom Influence track, which gave me an advantage in combat and I also got to decide the outcome of an occasional event card during the event phases. So even though my house had a lot of disadvantages because of its low ranks in two of the tracks, it was balanced out by my top rank in the third Influence track. The fact that the players’ placement on the tracks were changed every now and then due to event cards, and that you had to gamble with Power Tokens to get a good placement on them, was a very interesting feature too and could really change the game situation. When my group played, it happened very often in the beginning that the ones that were in top of a track used a lot of Power Tokens in order to stay in their first place. But after a while, many of the players had an increasing need to save Power Tokens, which lead to more unpredictable outcomes during the gambling part and resulted in position changes in the tracks. I thought it was an interesting idea of a system, since it also emulated the feeling that: “this house is more/less powerful than…”, depending on the placement on the Influence Tracks, and created a kind of class system among the players. It also sent out a clear message that “money makes the world go around”, which was supported by the resource management system. Because if you didn’t have any money (Power Tokens) or didn’t make sure to have it, there wasn’t that much that you could do in the game. Target Group – Age: Target Group – The Game of Thrones franchise: When it comes to the game itself and its systems, there’s nothing that requires the player to know anything about the franchise in order to understand. The game is playable for someone who isn’t a fan of the series, but something I realized while playing, was that I was missing out on something. Because I sat there with my character cards and saw these names and characters, but had no idea of who they were, since there were no information on the cards describing them. The cards said nothing about their position in the house, their personality, their relationships or a short summary of their story. (It wouldn’t have been possible to have that much information on a single card, but it would have been nice with some sort of context for the characters.) I could only guess that the strength icon in the left corner and the ability/special effect on the card said something or symbolized something about their character, but it was not enough to make me connect to them. They were just faces with names. The other group members on the other hand, were sometimes really eager to play a certain character card, and they seemed to connect more or at least a bit more with their house and characters than I did. They even discussed once that one of the houses should support another house in a battle, because it was something that had happened in the series. For me, the different houses could have just been called: “House Red, House Blue…”, and the characters on the cards: “Miss Scarlet, Reverend Green…etc.” It wouldn’t have changed the game experience for me, but for my group mates, it would have been different, since they had a connection to the characters and the houses. Instead of saying: “I definitely don’t want to play that house because…”, they would probably just like me have said: “Well, I can play the Yellow or the Black House…it doesn’t matter.”. So in this case, knowledge of the franchise does affect the experience of the game. In a way, you could say that the game’s setting with the environments and the characters leaves room for fans to “role-play” their favourite houses and characters, which is an experience of its own but supported by the setting and the game itself. I think the Game of Thrones setting is probably the biggest selling point of the game, and its biggest appeal. This game is best suitable for fans of the series, but a person who isn’t familiar with Game of Thrones can play it. They may feel that they’re missing out an experience though, and also be a bit confused about the characters and setting, like I were. Best part of the game: We had one person in the group that had played the game before and explained it to us, but it was still a bit difficult to absorb all the information at once. It was great that every player got a card with short descriptions about the order tokens though, since it was really important to know what they did and it would have been difficult if everyone would have had to consult the rule book every time. (It was similar to the sheet of paper that every player got in the board game Small World that my group played and analysed last week.) To be honest, I believe that it probably would have been easier to get into the game if we had gotten more time to play it. We had to play the game after a long school day since it was the only day that worked for the whole group, and because of the review deadline we couldn’t afford to play it at a later date either, because otherwise we wouldn’t have had any time to analyse and review the other group’s analyses. We were all a bit exhausted and stressed, and I think it affected the “learning the game” phase a lot. Otherwise, I thought the game was a lot easier than I had expected, and I thought that the Influence and Resource systems worked really well together. Worst part of the game: However, since the Game of Thrones setting with the different houses and characters creates an experience for the fans playing the game (that isn’t shared by non-fans) it becomes something more than just the original game/core systems. By replacing the setting and the title this experience is lost, and even though it may result in a more varied player group, the game has lost an engaging feature that will be difficult to recreate in a different original setting. (Unless they create a franchise of their own that becomes popular or adds more of a story to the game…) But it all depends on what they want to achieve with the game. Do they want lots of people playing it or do they want some players (Game of Thrones fans) to have a unique experience while playing the game? I don’t think that either is a bad choice, but I think that it’s probably a safer bet to go for the franchise game, since the company behind the game has to focus a lot more on advertising it and create an appealing identity for it otherwise. (As it is now, they can use the popularity of the franchise to sell the game.) If I would choose what I thought was the worst part of the game, I think it would have to be the fact that I didn’t have any connection with house or characters that I played as. The game itself with its systems doesn’t require any knowledge of the series, but the experience of the game is a lot different when you don’t know the world that you’re playing in. I could play the game though, and there wasn’t really anything to complain on when it came to the systems, but the whole setting and characters were a big question mark for me. So for me, it would probably been better with another setting for the game. Conclusion: What I thought was a bit negative with the game and what I disagreed with in the analysis was that I, who don’t know much about Game of Thrones, didn’t experience the game the same way as the members of my group that were familiar with the franchise and its setting. However, I do agree that the game could have been released with another name and its own original world/characters/universe setting, because the gameplay itself doesn’t rely on the Game of Thrones story. The game experience is affected by the setting though, so it’s something that would be lost with a name change. As with many other franchise games, the goal is to reach out to fans and give them what they want…and with this game it’s a chance to play and fight as their favourite house and use the characters in battle. If the company that made the game would create an interesting story or franchise of their own and use that setting for the game instead, it would maybe attract more and different players than with this Game of Thrones game. They would have to work harder on advertising it though, since they can rely on the franchise’s popularity as it is now. To sum it up: Otherwise I agreed with the definitions of the game’s systems, the target group (age)…I thought that the Influence system was the most interesting system though, while Mikaela had chosen the Resource system. I chose that system because I thought it created an interesting dimension in the game, and also created a kind of class system among the players. (“Which house/player is the most or least powerful.”) A Game of Thrones: The Board Game is a game for fans of the franchise, and even though you can play it without being a fan, you need to know the world that you’re playing in to have the optimal experience of the game. – – –  |
