The Banner Saga Series:
In late 2015, I played the enthralling Norse inspired epic, The Banner Saga. The first game by both developer Stoic Studio and publisher Versus Evil, the original release was actually The Banner Saga: Factions, a Free-To-Play multiplayer PvP game, where the player could purchase starter packs for more heroes. But the purpose of this game, released a year before the real The Banner Saga, was to demonstrate the combat system of the series, and allow for additional funding to complete the first true installment.
A quick recap of The Banner Saga.
In a bitter, inhospitable world, Humans and Varl (long lived giants
with horns) live in precarious peace with themselves and their frigid
environment. But recently, Dredge, coal-black, statue-like monsters
have invaded from the northern regions, and are marching south,
slaughtering everyone in their path. Perceiving the calamity from
three character perspectives, the player attempts to lead as many
Humans and Varl away from their doom. Though the player experiences
more than one point of view, the main expedition (5 of the 7
chapters) is led predominantly by Rook, a huntsman of the North.
Rallying his tribesmen, caring for his daughter, he leads a broken
people southward toward a distant capital on the seashore, gathering
humans and Varl, vagabonds and legends, he is always desperately
evading death, while offering mercy and hope.
In the end, Rook and his entourage are
forced to confront one of the Sundr, an immortal, god-like Dredge,
named Bellower, and while victory is achieved, tragedy strikes. It
was an excellent, tense game, emphasizing an excellent story, a
decent combat system, and the management of a single scarce resource:
renown.
The Banner Saga 2 opens with an
excellent recap of the prior episode, recounting the essential
events, choices, and deaths. After the recap the game begins, a few days after the conclusion of The Banner
Saga. Having achieved a partial victory, Rook and his caravan
have fled, constructing a makeshift flotilla to float down the river.
The Banner Saga ended with a major choice, which has left
Rook distraught, and the training battle sees him seeking suicidal
revenge, against a horde of Dredge. He falls, but rescue arrives in
the shape of two close friends, Varls Hakon and Iver.
From there the player returns to a game
much like its predecessor, and there's nothing particularly wrong
with that.
To begin with, much, if not everything,
carries over from The Banner Saga. Items, relative hero
levels, character builds, who's alive (and who's dead), and choices.
The series sells itself an opportunity to “Live through an epic
role-playing Viking saga where your strategic choices directly affect
your personal journey.” Like all choice based story games, The
Banner Saga 1 and 2
can't fully capitalize on its promise, but it achieves more than
most. There are over thirty different heroes across the first two
games, and at least fifteen can fail to join, die, or abandon the
caravan, and each of these depends upon the player's choices. In
addition to effecting the fate of heroes, there are a few major
choices, while the remainder of the game is full of everyday options
which test the player, stressing the situation, depleting manpower,
renown, or heroic resolve.
Aside from plot based choices, Rook is
compelled manage his single, scarce
resource: renown. Renown is like cash, and is spent on supplies,
items, and leveling up heroes. The player must decide whether they
have enough food to sustain them across the next snow-covered, Dredge
guarded, frozen plain, or whether their heroes need to be
strengthened for future battles (items are the ultimate luxury). In
The Banner Saga the player
truly felt the paucity of renown, which reinforces and compounds the
feeling of desperation so crucial to maintaining the atmosphere. In
The Banner Saga 2,
this feeling lapses as renown appears more abundant, though never as
available as one desires. As a result, the situation, though deadly,
never seems as precarious.
There
are a few other aspects which reduce the vitality of The
Banner Saga's second
installment. While The Banner Saga
is illuminated by three point of views, the player's perspective is
mainly restricted to Rook, approximately 70 percent. The follow up
offers four perspectives, but only three for Rook, three for a new
protagonist, one for a character who is technically (if I understand
correctly) dead, and a final chapter for a character who is under
the control of hero. Allowing the player to perceive these two
viewpoints incurs two risks: it both reveals information which the
player shouldn't know, a gimmick designed to suggest an answer to a
question, and also because the player hasn't resided inside the mind
of these two characters before, any information is suspect and might
be misinterpreted.
At the
same time, the emotional resonance, so integral for the series is
lost by the two years separating the release of The Banner
Saga, its sequel, and the
finale. The series is carried by Rook's trials and supported by his
interactions with the other travelers. But memories and suffering
which should be so overwhelming to his thoughts, are lost or
diminished by the player's real time separation. For this reason,
The Banner Saga series
will undoubtedly be best experienced when a player can play the whole
saga consecutively without two, two-year intervals.
Finally
the plot of The Banner Saga 2 sags, as is common among the bridge episode in trilogies. The original contained the
perfect mixture of mystery and answer. The world is falling apart,
but the details are straightforward, and
the plan is comprehensible. The second episode offers no such
clarity. Too many mysterious powers are introduced with no proper
resolution. It may hint at answers, but these hint are as opaque as
a snowstorm at twilight. Even the conclusion seems to leave its
participants in limbo, deep in unresolved conflict.
Next week, a look
at the combat system, the world, and some spoiler reviews about the
conclusion.
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