... and this isn't necessarily a bad thing because it is such a well-made show.
I wouldn't say that it is necessarily more complicated than Game of Thrones was and of course it is presented in a very similar way. I think the main reason why it is more difficult to follow than Game of Thrones is because of the fact that the names are so perplexing because of the Velaryon and Targaryen names, if I even spelled either one of those correctly.
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I think that for me it was considerably more difficult to keep up with what was going on because in House of the Dragon the main characters have some pretty difficult to remember names like Viserys, Rhaenyra, Corlys, and Rhaenys. I know that these characters need to be named this way because of their bloodline but when we look back at the names we were told in the beginning stages of Lord of the Rings we encounter names like Ned, Jaime, Sansa, Jon, and Arya. These names just kind of stick with you a bit better than the names in House of the Dragon.
In fact, the only odd name that I can recall in GoT was Daenerys and she was a Targaryen as well.
Another thing that complicates following the story in HotD is the fact that they go forwards in time many years abruptly and without telling you that they have done so. We are just meant to figure it out based on what happens in the story. This is something I do not mind but when compounded with the already difficult to remember names, I ended up lost on a regular basis.
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Things get even more complicated when they are all of a sudden referring to a Dragon and the names sound very similar to a human name.
Maybe I am just stupid but I honestly do not mind watching them all over again to fill in the blanks that exist in my mind because it is such as wonderfully done show that it is just as entertaining the 2nd time through.
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One part of the series that I particularly enjoyed even more the second time through was the battle against the Crabfeeder which I hadn't paid much attention to for whatever reason the first time I watched the entire series. I do still kind of find it impractical that the thing that turned the tide of the battle was Daemon going over there to the stronghold on his own in order to lure them all out. It seemed very impractical to me but I suppose we had to get past the stalemate while also making Daemon appear like a badass all at once. To me it seems like he could have torched the well-known archer position on dragonback while the rest of the crew went ashore.... which is essentially what they ended up doing anyway.
I can see how this level of confusion might scare away new watchers who are not familiar with Game of Thrones but I don't believe there are very many people that fall into that category. I know that I have only met a couple of people who have either not seen GoT or even fewer that saw it but didn't like it.
All I know is that this time through I am watching more intently and with the subtitles on and it is still a lot better option for viewing than most of the other choices I have available to me at this moment in time.