Banner Saga

I cannot emphasize this enough: Banner Saga is a legit role-players' game. The experience is about making tough decisions, and living with the consequences. The autosave feature isn't too aggressive, but there are minimial opportunities to save-scum. This is a tough-minded game. I found myself cursing at the computer multiple times because [REDACTED], [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]. I am still mad at myself for making a certain choice. Nonetheless, I eventually took those events for what they were. This story is brutal, but never mean-spirited or cynical. Do yourself a favor, play this completely blind, and never attempt to reload a bad decision. Banner Saga isn't the game for you if you don't find this approach compelling. The writing is strong, and the setting is convincing. It works as well as it does because the cast is likable. These aren't the most original characters, but I grew attached to my squad, and I hoped against hope that they would all make it out alive.

What I love about this game the most is that until the end I did not fully understand the depth of the combat, what made the potentially repetevie fights unpredictable. I really see it as a plus. Unfortunaltely for some - a moment comes, where your team members become pretty powerfull close to the end of the game. I like the art style of the game that is still pretty and interesting. The storyline and the decision making mechanism was another great element of this 11hrs journey - I had the same amazing experience like with the first Witcher game - after making choices that I found to be the right thing to do, I often found myself getting the bad outcome, including losing good party members and resources. Why did I deduct one star after being optimistic about this game?Had to reinstall it becaus it crashed after the first instal. That is an indie game and it feels - there's not much animations and voiced dialogs. The tactical combat games is my kind of games and not everybody will like how the mechanics play out. I even imagine it being pretty frustrating to many (didn't read the other reviews though). I highly recommend this game to anybody who likes this kinds of games.

I have just finished the game and have very positive feeling of it. Every part is done on a very high level starting from beautiful graphics and really good music to a detailed map(though, to be honest I didn't read anything). I played on normal difficulty. Some notes I wish to make: - Combat difficulty was mostly enough to keep them interesting for me, though some battles were too easy. - Choices during the journey have mostly unpredictable(or hardly predictable) outcomes(at least for the first playthrough. I'm not sure if they are totally predefined or not). - In the late part of the game choices become much more interesting (maybe it's just because I finally understood some of world background and got to know some characters better) - I can't say much about the game world because when I finally begin to understand something the game came to the end. - This is not an RPG: All characters you play are predefined, character development is very basic(five levels, few attributes/skills), no world exploration, etc.

Aesthetics: 100% Game is heavily based on its aesthetics and name. Remember that Saga word? And it is amazingly beautiful - backgrounds, animations, heroes. Review could be finished here. But let's go through some rants. Turn-based combat: 90% One flaw. You cannot rotate camera. And at some point, when hero is surrounded by swarm of the enemies, you end up clicking somewhere, hoping that you chose exactly that enemy you want to attack. Everything else is a rant. It is turn-based combat and such is the rules. Devs tried to balance it and I think they've succeeded. Dialogues: 100% They exist. And give you choices. And sometimes these choices are difficult and may even lead to a hero's death (don't be afraid, these are not main characters crucial for the story). They are somewhat narrow and limited. But it is a saga, you've been told a story here. See aesthetics part. Small 2D sprites walking through backgrounds. It is ingenious. What is another way to decrease pathos? I had so much fun with it. And yes, see aesthetics.

I want the day I spent playiing this back. A very poorly thought management system takes the wind out of a pretty deep and mostly enjoyable combat system. At first I was amused by the "X has happened, what do you want to do?" thing. Then it just kept happening, and happening, and it didn't seem to matter what choices I made, I quickly found myself losing my most valuable characters to BS offscreen hazards like a wagon going off a cliff. It's like Oregon Trail with Orcs...with Shining Force battles sprinkled about. Eventually I found myself in an unwinnable situation that I did not feel was my fault. But instead of feeling frustrated, or motivated to try again...I just felt tired and dejected, like I just wasted a day of my life for what? I uninstalled it. I'll never play it again. No plans to try the sequels after this experience.