Banner Saga 3 is the final dramatic chapter in the mature, story driven Viking RPG series which has won over 20 awards and has been nominated for 4 BAFTA awards. As the world continues to crumble around you, who can you trust, how will you protect your allies and what choices will you make as the Da...
Banner Saga 3 is the final dramatic chapter in the mature, story driven Viking RPG series which has won over 20 awards and has been nominated for 4 BAFTA awards. As the world continues to crumble around you, who can you trust, how will you protect your allies and what choices will you make as the Darkness draws near?
Witness the Banner Saga as you’ve never seen it before as a dark force takes over and effects everything you’ve come to know in the beautifully hand-painted finale of the trilogy.
Choose new playable characters to join your party, including dredge heroes! Take advantage of new upgrade options as they progress in battle.
Deeper strategic combat with the new battle waves system against a myriad of new enemies.The valka spear and heroic titles let players customize their playstyle even further.
Drive your own narrative as you carry over your choices from both Banner Sagas 1 & 2, leading to different climatic endings in this final chapter. No hero is safe.
An all-new original score from Grammy-nominated composer Austin Wintory.
The final part of the trilogy just arrived and I managed my way through it on normal difficulty with little difficulty! The narrative is just as strong as the first two volumes, with decisions and alternative pathways being quite clear and questionably unpreventable (unless you replay!). The combat, including the new combat modes, was a nice touch as well (though it's been almost two years since I played the second game, so I was definitely rusty!). I really enjoyed seeing characters "max out" and get full use of their abilities. Where could the game improve? Some of the animations were a bit off and felt cut short; some of the story could have been fleshed out a bit more. But for what it is, and the replay value, I found the game well worth every moment. I'm glad I supported the game during their crowd-funding period. Stoic is a great company with some major ambitions.
First of I'm not sure this game imports save games properly, I say as such because in the 2nd part I failed to achieve a special objective which would have given one character an ability and yet in this game he has the ability.
Gameplay wise, it's pretty similar to the previous entries. Biggest addition is a waves system where additional enemies will come and you can swap out heroes for subsequent waves. This is a very good addition because it encourages uses the full cast of characters, that said I think there are still some heroes that almost never hit the battlefield in my games.
Story-wise the ending is pretty satisfying, not over the top not disappointing just somewhere in the middle. I did find that the story didn't always respect the choices however, in one case the game adds a countdown to the game to finish a task- but this countdown is re-freshed multiple times, and at the initial time my countdown seemed to drop dramatically in a sequence where it was not counted. As such it just seems artificial, and idea, but with no consequence.
Overall it's worth playing- but by the end I had certainly had my fill of this particular combat system.
If you like the first two games, there is a good chance you will love this one. A word of advice before I get into further detail: Playing this game does not make much sense if you have not played BS 1 & 2. Playing BS 3 on its own will confuse you more than anything. The best way to start the game is to import a save from BS 2 because then the game will keep track of the choices you made, the characters you got (not yet) killed and the items you collected.
Just like BS 1+2, this game is a mixture of well-written, atmospheric storytelling and exciting turn-based combat. The visual and musical presentation is beautiful and most of the choices you make do matter.
There is more combat in this game than in BS 1 & 2, which does, however, fit the setting. While there is a certain danger that the battles may become repetitive, I certainly enjoyed every single one of them. Due to the fact that almost every character you can control and almost every enemy you have to fight has different special abilities, strengths and weaknesses, each battle is a tactical challenge of its own. I think that the combat system used in all three games is excellent because it forces you to think tactically: Which heroes do I send into battle? How do I position them on the battlefield? Is it better to attack the enemy right next to me or to use a special ability to support a hero who is going to take a hit next turn?
Another thing which gives this game a lot of replay value is choice and consequence: Not only can you experiment a lot with the choices you can make in this game, but depending on your choices in BS 1 & 2 some situations will play out differently. Characters you saved from death earlier on may sacrifice themselves to give you an advantage, or simply die when you screw up. And screw up you will. At times, this game made me feel miserable because of the deaths caused by my choices. But when I finally beat it after roughly 10 hours, I was already sure I would play it again.
