The Banner Saga 2, Two

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While The Banner Saga 2 deviates from its predecessor as regards its plot, the combat system carries over with minimal adjustments. Each character in The Banner Saga series has six stats: Rank, Strength, Armor, Break, Exertion, and Willpower. When a hero kills enough enemies, the player can spend Renown to improve the hero's level.

Improving a hero offers the player points to spend in improving that Character's stats. The most crucial stat is Strength. This number is the quantity of health a hero has, but it is also the amount of damage they do. As a hero loses Stregnth, they inflict less damage, and if it's ever reduced to zero, the hero collapses. In most cases, collapse is not death (though The Banner Saga is full of exceptions to any rule). A collapsed hero no longer contributes to the battle, but can fight in future battles, though they suffer a penalty to their Strength until they rest.

Armor reduces the amount of damage taken. Strength and Armor interact as simply as it sounds. A hero with 15 Strength, will reduce the Strength of an enemy (who has 5 armor), by 10 (15 Strength – 5 Armor = 10 damage). The enemy, who started with 20 Strength, will now have 10 (20 Strength – 10 damage = 10 Strength), and in attacking the hero (who has 8 armor) will inflict 2 damage, leaving the hero with 13 Strength (10 Strength – 8 Armor = 2 damage. 15 Strength – 2 damage = 13 Strength).

The Banner Saga 2 allows heroes to use their Strength to attack the enemy's Strength, but it also allows them to attack the enemy's Armor, with the stat, Break. Unlike Strength and Armor which can be improved into the double digits, Break can only be increased to a max of 4 on some heroes, with others limited to 3 or even 2 (All heroes have different limits for each of the six stats). Heroes with a high Break value should be used to soften high Armored heroes.
Just as Strength and Armor compliment and contradict each other, so do Exertion and Willpower. In The Banner Saga, Willpower can be spent to supplement actions. It can increase move distance, boost Strength and Break attacks, and is required to use Rank abilities. The hero stat Willpower is both the amount of Willpower the hero starts with in each battle, and the maximum they can have at any moment. Exertion is how much Willpower the hero can spend on any one action (except Rank abilities, which are limited only by the ability itself).

Rank abilities are special actions unique to each hero. As a hero attains a higher level, their abilities improve, sometimes unlocking additional abilities. Abilities require the spending of one point of Willpower for each level of the ability. A hero can spend up to their full Rank ability, regardless of the hero's Exertion.

The most basic tip about combat is this. Before any combat the player chooses six of their ten to twenty heroes to answer the call of battle. The enemy will almost always outnumber the heroes, but the majority will be weaker, but one or two will be stronger. Instead of each hero and enemy taking a turn, the teams alternate, regardless of the number of soldiers on the field. For instance, if there are five heroes and ten enemies, the heroes will each have two turns when the enemies have had only one. Instead of focusing one enemy, the best strategy is to reduce each enemy's Strength but leave them alive. With low Strength they will inflict minimal damage, but still fill a slot in the enemy's turn order. Then, when all the enemies have been weakened, they can be eliminated one by one. This is not a hard rule, but a useful strategy to consider.

Another tip. Beware, a battle may seem near its conclusion, when reinforcements arrive to thwart an easy victory. Boss enemies are particularly flexible in their disposition. Sometimes they enter the field late. Sometimes they begin in the battle, and defeating them ends it immediately, even if other enemies are still standing. And sometimes, felling a boss has no impact, and the other enemies fight on.

There is one feature, relating to hero stats, which I am unsure if it existed in the first The Banner Saga. Heroes, instead of spending points to improve stats, can use these points to improve talents associated with stats. For example, Strength includes two talents. The first gives the hero a chance of resisting damage when attacked. The second allows the hero the opportunity to deal bonus damage when attacking. Each talent can be leveled three times.
When not in combat, the scenery of The Banner Saga 2 reminds the player of the grandeur and scope of the World (name unknown). Godstones, towering, majestic runic structures awe the player with their size, detail, and variety. This incurs the question though, which Rook and his people ask, “Where are the Gods now?” The background scenery never disappoints either, whether Rook is leading his caravan on makeshift boats down a swift river, through a swampy marsh, or deep underground in the bowels of the earth.

With a World so immense, one would think the developers wouldn't need to stretch it (and themselves) any further. Unfortunately Stoic belieced they could cram more features into an already crowded field. Spoiler.... In a world which seems well established with Varl, Human, Dredge, Valka, and Menders, The Banner Saga 2 introduces a new race, the Horseborn (Centaurs). In a game arrayed in the northern Nordic theme, these rough and rude beings seem decidedly sunny and southern, Greek or Celtic. They don't fit at all with the motif, an unnecessary and unwanted addition to an already complete World.

Before this article's conclusion, a spoiler look at the two endings for The Banner Saga 2. Unlike the original which predominantly follows Rook's caravan, The Banner Saga 2 follows Rook and a Varl named Bolverk equally, and they both have their own ending. I disliked both of them.
Rook is forced to choose between two solutions which are distasteful to both myself, and to him. Three factions meet at the capital of the human realm (Arberrang); King Meinolf and his human soldiers, Rook with his loyal Varl and humans, and Rook's treacherous partner Rugga who has persuaded the mass of humans in the caravan to serve him rather than Rook. The city can only contain two of the three factions, and both the King and Rugga ask Rook for his allegiance. The Banner Saga 2 declares Rook must ally with either the venomous Rugga and overthrow the King, or fight with the desperate King against Rugga. While the second choice might seem preferable, as Rugga is a snake, and the King is merely driven to cruelty out of desperation, this option forces Rook to fight against his Varl allies.

Though I find these two choices disheartening, this is not the real problem. The Banner Saga series has always asked the player to make difficult choices. No, the problem is not that the choice are difficulty, but that Rook would reject both choices. I'm not sure what he would do, but I know he wouldn't work with Rugga to overthrow the King, or betray his Varl allies. Rook is steadfast, deliberate, just, calm, and upstanding. He could accept neither of these choices, and that is why I reject them (though obviously I chose one of them to continue the game).
The other ending is less outrightly unappetizing, and yet worse. It introduces new characters, reveals information without any evidence to support its truth, has the player take the perspective of a character whose point of view they've never experienced, and the character they control is under the magical control of another character. All in no more than five minutes! Then The Banner Saga 2 demands the player to fight a duel between their character (magically controlled) against another major character (both Varl, both long time companions of Rook's caravan). The one feature I enjoyed was how the battle was fought. Unlike the other ending, The Banner Saga 2 doesn't ask the player make a choice from two options, but the choice is still there, hidden (though not too secret). Even though I was playing as one character, and I could win the battle, I believed the other side were the good guys. It was hard to make this determination for all the reasons listed above, but I went with it. I lost the duel on purpose, and the game accepted my defeat instead of making me replay the battle until I achieved victory. Yes!

In conclusion, The Banner Saga 2 is an acceptable middle bridge between an excellent beginning and a hopefully satisfactory conclusion. It maintains the same core structure, a competent combat system, excellent visuals and soundtrack, well developed characters, and a beautiful world. But the story has too many strange, unanswered secrets, too many perspectives, a lack of conclusive choices, and two final battles which are completely distasteful. In addition, though no fault of the developer, the time between each release detracts from the emotional connection (and the ability to remember all the characters and what they were doing) which is a foundational element of the series.

Yet, I look forward eagerly to July 24, 2018 when The Banner Saga 3 releases (though I won't purchase it for a year or two).

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