The Banner Saga 3
The conclusion of the Banner Saga trilogy is finally here!
Let me start with a few words about the trilogy in general - because all 3 of those games are continuing the same story, and are very similar - basically the same game, with slight additions and adaptions to the new story chapter.
It’s not just a story told - they created a whole new world, with a pretty rich history, and are telling us the faith of our characters in that world. It’s inspired by Norse mythology, but not copying anything - created their own mythological world. Although, we don’t get any very big introduction to the world - we slowly uncover the bits and pieces about it, having a general knowledge which is more detailed at later stages, especially when meeting characters that shaped it. It’s great that it’s so rich, but can be a little bit overwhelming - especially with a lot of character names, which are norse-like and might be hard to remember at first, lots of places and new names.
One of the main aspects of the game is the story, and the travel. Most of the game, you are travelling with your clan. The story could be divided in 2 phases - things happening on the road, and things happening in places where you travel. On the road, you will encounter some random events, but also some events tied to your current situation or placement in the story. It shows the hardship of travels and the current world situation. There will be a lot of tough decision, which you as a leader need to decide from. With your possible decisions mainly ranging from bad to… bad. Those decisions can have dire consequences, like even losing characters from your party - which might be really harsh. The game can be so harsh at times, that you feel it’s just sweeping the rug from underneath your legs, which is true - but I don’t think it’s just a “lazy trick” from the devs to make the game hard - I think it depicts the current state of the world, that nothing is certain and times are hard. Apart from the road, the story elements are told by conversations between characters, where you can get more information or decide about outcomes of those discussions. You could say a bit visual novel style.
The other main aspect is the tactical, turn-based combat. And it is really good. Trying to sum it up - before the battle, you choose a party of 6 characters that will take part in it - obviously, with different abilities and statlines. During a turn, your characters are moving alternately with enemies, where you can move first, and then attack (or use your abilities). Each character has their current armour value (which decreases the damage taken by that amount) and strength - which serves both as current health and damage, which is the main interesting thing and it works really great! There are also abilities, which can introduce special ways of attacking (or defending, or supporting) and willpower - which can be used to boost some attacks. Quite a lot of mechanics, making the combat engaging and really really hard, but also very diverse and very much enjoyable!
The main thing is the story - what happens next, how it will conclude.. But is it only a story change? What changed from previous games? One of the thing is that there is a new layer of character progression. Our characters are quite high level now (starting around level 8-9), most of them with all (or almost all) of their stats maxed out. What next? There are 2 things - stat specialties (I don’t remember the name in game for that) and Heroic Titles. For each stat, you can choose 1 of 2 specialties, giving you passive abilities (like chance to dodge an attack, regen willpower or crit). Each of them can be ranked up to level 3, with progression points given on leveling. They are really good - you can specialize your character even more, focusing e.g. on his survivability or crit chance. What’s more, after a certain level (11 I think?) your character can gain a Heroic Title. Those are unique - meaning, only 1 character can have 1 of the titles (there is like 10 or so of them) - which also gives them some boosts (either plain stats, or situational passives like “+1 STR for each adjacent ally”). They have 5 ranks, But to progress them - you need to spend renown, which is also interesting: you now can choose between levelling up a character, or boosting his Heroic Title rank. I think they did it pretty well - combat is hard on those high levels, and each character is already quite specialized with his statlines, but those specialities and titles gives a new layer and another depth into the combat.
There is also a new enemy type. Well, there are some new ones, but for others - let’s call them a “variation” of existing ones, without spoiling anything ;) They introduce a couple of new mechanics, which makes those fights more interesting and tactical. Also, there are new type of allies for your party… but you need to see it for yourself :)
What also is a bit changed, but it’s just adapted to the story, is how travelling is a part of the game. It still is, but there is less management of supplies and “can we make it there” decisions, just because of how story goes. It does turn into something else later on, and I think it’s a great translation of those mechanics into the new story and was really interesting.
What I always loved in Banner Saga games was the story - but not only the world created, but what subjects were discussed and how smart. This is also the thing in the third one, which is fantastic. The creators even said it themselves - it is an adult story, but not by adding sex, swearing and toss in some brutal violence - and I cannot agree more. It talks about hard and important topics - like differences in cultures, leadership, wars and why they happen. Even when depicted in a fantasy world - the general truths apply and can be translated to our world, making those discussions very real and full of wisdom. It’s one of those things that makes this game so good.
You can’t forget about the visuals - even after 3rd game, I still love the art style. The hand drawn style, with beautiful backgrounds, rather still images of characters and the general vibe.. it’s just so good looking. Even if you think about it - this game is still kind of “the same one” as the 2 before it. But I think it’s good - the biggest focus was always the story, not changing the game from one part to another. Obviously, as already mentioned before, there are some changes adapted to the story, but in general - it is the same feeling of the game. I’m pretty sure that playing all 3 of them back to back will just be a coherent experience. Worth mentioning too is the sound layer - sound effects were always on par in the game, even if sparse at times. Just like the music - not a lot of it, but definitely fitting. Can’t say that I remembered any from the game itself though, and I didn’t listen to the soundtrack standalone.
Can’t really compare, because I played the other 2 a while ago, but I think there were a bit more animations and voiceover fragments in a game, which is great. Although, they were really rather sparse and occasional. But what is worth mentioning, even if I said that I love the art style - it’s still the same. And what I mean with it, it’s exactly the same for the most part. The characters images and a lot of stuff was reused from other games, not even refreshed really, so new stuff created needed to be “the same quality” not to stand out. Because of that, I had a feeling that some of the elements really doesn’t have a properly big resolution (like small characters moving during travel, especially if you zoom in, which you can) are showing that. It’s really a minor stuff, and I can understand that redrawing all of this in higher quality would be a lot of work, but it does give it a bit of outdated feeling.
What about the story? The ending? The conclusion? I have to say, the story was really interesting, keeping me curious and on my toes at the end. It was still mysterious and unknown for the big part of the game, but when things started uncovering and we got some explanation of why things happened and what next - I think it was really fitting the world itself and all the story tied together. There are multiple endings, based on a final decision that you can make - but even that is not just “pick an ending”. The struggle and discussion how the story will end, is itself a great piece of art and makes you rather part of the story, not just “the one deciding on the outcome”. There are also some smaller things in the game, branching, based on what decisions you made throughout the game.
I think Stoic closed the trilogy in a great way, keeping it real and consistent. They created a wonderful world, brining a great, intelligent and moving story, talking about big and important things. And all that with a great tactical combat game, decision based story making and some management. Well done guys.
My rating: 9/10
Playtime: 11h
Tags:
The Banner Saga 3 on Steam