Banner Saga 3

Gameplay is satisfying, fights are challenging and true to the series decisions for the caravan, for the city and for the Ravens are all dubious, moral grey areas where few outcomes make you a winner. Something seperate from the previous two games, Banner Saga 3 has an underlying theme of hope and triumph. Every fight you win feels like a step closer to victory, each new rank, title and item feels well-earned not hard won. The story writing was done medium-rare; there's enough to chew into that you really enjoy the meat of the narrative, but not too much that you get bored. Conversations with characters can be far and few between, but the familliarity you gain with them is rewarding by the end. Many of their stories, anecdotes or observations are fun to read. You really begin to feel, like in any crisis, that it's the people around you that can make or break it. Most importantly, the choices you make through Sagas 1 & 2 are accounted for; everything comes full circle, which is incredibly exciting. The new 'waves' system of combat is fun and well-balanced. I played through on Normal, eager to finish the saga, though I've finished both Sagas 1 & 2 on Hard before. Normal is well balanced, though there are a few fights where it can feel the odds are stacked against you. Persevere, reload a couple times, and you'll finish this beautiful saga. My first playhtrough took about 18 hours, including gratuitous examining of the scenes inbetween fights (tip: click and drag). There are definitely other playthroughs to enjoy, with all the different choices you make from Skogr through to Arberrang. As always, music from Austin Wintory is spellbinding and chillinh at the same time. Phenominal work from himself, and all the talented musicians too.

Spanish translation is... somehow a mix between what a person who study spanish think it is and a mix of google translate. Sometimes is ok, but other times is just impossible to know what is happening. For a game based in a compelling storytelling that is quite a big hole. Ii feeld sloppy and really cheap. The game is ok, maybe a bit disbalanced sometimes but still is ok. I felt lost when I tried the 3rd instalment before any other title as there is no tutorial, even an optional tutorial to find the way to play the game. Luckily I bought the first title "The banner saga" that by the way is more solid at least in the spanish version, except maybe in the case of female charachter (for example "cansado", instead of "cansada" and many other words that relate the character to a male version of her. --------- Vale ahora en español que escribo un poquito mejor en mi lengua. El juego no esta mal, pero su localizacion en español es muy mala. Osea si buscas un juego en español bien traducido pues este no es tu titulo, ni el mio la verdad, lo compré porque me dijeron que la saga estaba chula y tal, pero si llego a saber que la traducción es tan desastrosa no lo habria comprado.

Let's get one thing out of the way: Banner Saga never was a very deep turn-based strategy title, but the story and dread kept you playing nonetheless and I loved 1 and 2 for that. Story is still strong in this one, but it keeps crashing every now and then (the other games NEVER had that problem!) and the fights feel more boring the Banner Saga 2. If you played 1 and 2 this is a logical buy, just for the sake of finishing the story, but wait for a sale.

Let's get this out of the way: this was an amazing game. The story was fraught, the choices extra ambiguous, the graphics were amazing. The combat was easily my favorite of the three games, probably in part because the higher level characters give you more options, but I also enjoyed the new characters and foes. The art remains gorgeous, and the world inside of the Darkness is just breathtaking. Also, we finally start to get a few answers out of Juno, so that's fun. The only thing that prevents this from being one of the best games in recent memory is how short it is. I finished the game in well under 10 hours, and as far as I'm aware I didn't skip any battles or take any shortcuts. I get that this is a $25 game and not a $60 one, but this is still much shorter than the first two games, and I found it quite disappointing.