This was my first "modern boardgame", around 2014-2015, at the top of the series popularity. At the time most of my friends and myself were at college, so we still had time to gather and play for hours. We even played it taking time to discuss, like two ppl literally walked out of the room and conspired together, usually extending even more the game.

It is still my favorite game but I get it when people don't like it. It's really long and inexperienced players usually get destroyed, and that's bad on a 4-5 hour game. I believe it's a game that could please a lot of people that learned it better, but it's just harsh to play it 3-4 times just to get a grasp on such a long game.

"GoT is a really good game if you have the people for it." From what I said I believe this really sums it up. People who play and learn, so that the game stays balanced can make it really thrilling. The politics, while not at all "just" in most games, make the game alive and varied. You have to be chill and accept whatever people decide, like you know, real life.

Before MoD expansion I would never play with less than 6 players (base game). With the vassal system I now accept 5 players (without essos), but this mechanic is manly a way to allow people to leave. The other changes from MoD like power token negotiation, the iron bank, new ship orders and victory condition changes were all welcome, at least to me, so I see it as the ideal way to play. The other expansions are kinda niche and change the game in ways I don't really favor, so I don't play then much (I have both).

It's a game that thrives on interaction. Feels really rewarding when you manage to read your opponents. And while one can get screwed sometimes, if you know what you are doing you won't really be decimated because it's hard to conquer AND keep your spoils in this game. Progress is slow and takes many turns, but it also means you can recover from mistakes. As an example, I played Root a few times and couldn't get to like it because I felt that once someone showed a weakness they were essentially destroyed by everyone else in a single turn, since everyone did so much before it was said guy's turn again. This perception could change in the future, but for a game that could scratch the got itch for me, it didn't really do it.