A Game of Thrones: Genesis

[rajpoot]

I have not seen the TV series yet either, although it does look decent.

You're missing out on something good! Sean Bean was born to play roles in medieval fantasy.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

And in stories where he dies!

Plus the show is quite faithful to the book. Also the casting has been done very well.

A pity I can't stand the books, or I'd probably pick this up.

Hey :) Been a while since I saw you post! How're you.
I'm just on the third book right now, and like frog says, the first one certainly was a lot better than the second and third. But the books are big! Make sure you have time before you pick up a set lest you start lagging behind in work.

[frogbeastegg]

You're missing out on something good!

I need to wait for the DVD and that still doesn't have a release date. I watched some scenes on youtube and it does look very good. The famous ... Ned scene worked much better on film than it did in the book.

[frogbeastegg]

I found a couple of useful bits while browsing the official forum.

It's possible to queue unit orders by holding the shift key. This means that it is possible to semi-automate tasks like having a spy tour your holdings to make sure all is well. You will need to reissue orders once the current batch has expired. Considering that the overall situation changes frequently that's a good thing; endlessly repeating the same rounds would risk having the agent become irrelevant or see them captured.

You can also automate peasants by clicking on the green arrow near their portrait. That makes then head to the nearest empty field and get to work. Nice - at that point you can ignore the unit for the rest of the game unless they get attacked.

There's also this:

The main difference between the AIs are the quantity of orders they make within a minute. There are different types of AI as well. Some will focus on military units others on underhand methods, and one uses your stats to counter your gameplay style. and by the way, we don't use cheating AIs. They respond to what they see.

[Beskar]

I might consider this in a Steam sale. I sort of avoided it because it came across like Thomas the Tank Engine.

[Martok]

Thanks for the feedback, Lady Frog. It sounds like it's maybe not my particular cup of tea, but kudos to the developers for at least coming up with a different concept for a PC strategy title.

Hey :) Been a while since I saw you post! How're you.

Hey raj, good to see you again! I'm actually doing pretty okay now, thanks for asking.

I'm just on the third book right now, and like frog says, the first one certainly was a lot better than the second and third. But the books are big! Make sure you have time before you pick up a set lest you start lagging behind in work.

I actually read the first two books, but only because a co-worker at the time insisted I'd love them (in that, she was unfortunately mistaken). I was intrigued by the setting, but was very turned off by the unremittingly grim atmosphere and gray/black morality.

Moreover, I swear Martin wants you to actively hate the characters -- they're either total , or they suffer from a (usually terminal) case of being Lawful Stupid....and either way, I want to kick them all in the head. The only ones I could at all stand were Tyrion and Jon Snow, and they alone were not enough to entice me to stick with the series.

[econ21]

I'm just on the third book right now, and like frog says, the first one certainly was a lot better than the second and third.

I'm not sure how you count the books - in the UK, the book 3 is published as two separate volumes. The second of those is the highpoint of the series imo, with a repeat of "a Ned at the end of book 1" type climax. To some extent, I think books 2 and 3 part 1 were just bulding up to book 3 part 2 rather than standalone works. (And I suspect books 4 and 5 are also just build-ups to something.) I am pleased to read frogbeastegg's verdict on the books, as I was wondering if I was missing something. I've enjoyed them, but did find them a slog at times. It reminds me a little of the Harry Potter books - I like the imagination and the story, but the actual writing is no great shakes. I suspect there's a common cause in both cases: an author who is too successful to be disciplined.

I am a big fan of the TV series though - it's up there with the best (and nowadays, there are so many high quality programmes on TV, it's overtaking cinema for mature entertainment).

[Sorry for going a little off topic.]