The Banner Saga Series:
This is probably Awkward Mixture's final article on The Banner Saga series. It is definitely the last essay about The Banner Saga 3. An intent to replay the entire series (at roughly 30 hours, that's shorter than Dark Souls 3, Pillars of Eternity, or Divinity: Original Sin, all of which Awkward Mixture reviewed last year), had arisen immediately after concluding the original Banner Saga in 2015, but for reasons explained in this article, that ambition withered. The conclusion of the series implies that it is not the journey that matters, but only the ending.
Let me explain. (Warning:
Everything will be spoiled!)
As the Ravens,
commandeered by Juno, and led by player perspective character Iver,
marched into the Darkness, the Valka (Valkas? What is the plural of
Valka!) explain the whole mystery. The source of the Serpent and the
Darkness stretch back eons. The pair of Juno and Eyvind deliver a
mythology dump, (or is religion if it's true?) the information of
which should have been seeded throughout the whole series. Summary:
In the beginning existed the Loommother. First, She wove the Gods
into existence and then created the Valka (the first people). One of
the Gods formed the Dredge in mockery of humanity (orcs, anyone?),
and they were thrust under the earth. Other Gods created the Varl
and Horseborn. Long ago war erupted between the Gods, they slew each
other so none remain. Meanwhile Humans, Varl, Horseborn, Valka, and
Mender flourished on the earth, while the Dredge subsisted
underneath.
Also long ago, the Valka
learned of a whole world under the crust of their own. A smaller
black sun orbited a smaller black earth, which the Dredge lived upon.
The Valka studied the inner earth, and spoke with the Dredge. They
convinced the Dredge to remain beneath. Peace, punctuated only by
minor conflicts, might have reigned for centuries, but two renegade
Valka spoiled it.
One of the chief Valka was
descended from a lineage prone to instability and insanity. This was
Eyvind. As he became more powerful, his derangement advanced.
Another Valka loved him, and sought a cure for his ailment. But the
Valka forbade meddling with minds, and sentenced her to death. This
was Juno. After her execution, Eyvind sought to resurrect his love.
He traveled to the White Tower, a construction by the Valka in the
land under the earth. There, with all his might, the greatest Valka
harnessed the power of the Black Sun and reanimated Juno. But in
doing so, he damaged both the Black Sun and the Black Earth, and from
them issued the Serpent and the Darkness.
In other words, the
potential devastation of all life is because of a madman, a forbidden
love, disobedience, and an irrepressible arrogance, none which
related to the main characters (Rook, Alette, Hakon, Ludin, Iver,
Oddleif, Bolverk). This information is relayed to the player halfway
through the third and final game of the series. It would be like,
Gandalf telling Frodo about Orcs at Rivendell, but only mentioning
the importance of the Ring and the history of Sauron at the Black
Gates. It would be as if Dumbledore and Grindelwald adopted the
child Voldemort, taught him how to create Horocruxes, and Harry only
learned of these facts as Voldemort stood at the gates of Hogwarts in
the 7th book.
But the reality is worse.
Only two people can fix the problem; Eyvind and Juno. They must
return to the White Tower where Eyvind can reverse the magic he
performed, except instead of causing the death of Juno, she will
remain alive but trapped, tortured for eternity. An equal comparison
would if, Frodo learned that the only way to destroy the Ring was to
locate Celebrimbor (who he discovers isn't dead but in hiding)
because only the original smith can unmake the One. The main
characters, the playerp perspective character of The Banner Saga 3
are not responsible for the catastrophe, and they have no agency in
unmaking it. They are pawns, servants to the true troublemakers.
But the situation is even
worse. Eyvind is unstable, and can't see why the apocalypse is his
fault. When others complain about their situation, or make a
mistake, he isn't empathetic. He set in motion the end of the world,
and he has the gall to accuse others of misdeeds! Nor is he
committed to the sacrifice Juno insists she must make.
The end of The Banner
Saga 3 is a desperate rush to the White Tower. Juno forces the
temporary retreat of the Serpent in a cut scene, and a final battle
at the foot of the Tower with a possessed Bolverk serves as the
climax. After defeating the mad Varl (Is it possible to lose here?),
Iver engages Eyvind in conversation with occasional interruptions
from Juno. Juno tells Eyvind to sacrifice her, but he despairs at
the idea. In three dialogue options, the player as Iver can expound
their perspective to Eyvind. After these discussions, the company
reaches the Tower's pinnacle where they are confronted by the
Serpent. In their final moments Eyvind seems prepared to betray the
party by sparing Juno, and the player as Iver must choose from one of
three final options. After the decision, The Banner Saga 3
displays a few short cut scenes, which left me bewildered.
At first I believed I had
earned a bad ending. There was almost no epilogue, and the little
the game showed seemed to depict a wasteland where Rook's remnants
had defended Arberrang. The Banner Saga offered no information about
surviving, Eyvind's choice, about Rook, Iver, or the remnants of
Human, Varl, Horseborn, and Dredge. I thought, “Haven't developers
learned from the Mass Effect 3 ending debacle?”
I had to know the truth,
so I checked online for the possible endings. Apparently there are
five for those who reach the final conversation with Eyvind. They
all derive from the following three dialogue choices:
1) Trust Eyvind and Wait
2) Strike Eyvind down
3) Say, “Eyvind, this
isn't what Juno wanted.”
A quick skim of the
website implied that the 3rd option would lead to the best
ending. And I choose that one, so my immediate thought was, the
nearly non-existent epilogue was really terrible. But in spite of
appearances I must have seen the best ending. Eyvind must have
heeded my words. But that couldn't be right. So I reread, more
carefully. And I realized the pathetic flaw in the design. The 3rd
option was the path to the best outcome, but prior choices effected
whether Eyvind listened to the player (good ending), or disregarded
Iver's words (bad ending). This would have been ok, except only
three previous dialogue decisions effected whether Eyvind listened or
not. And you guessed it, they were the three choices made two
minutes earlier, after defeating Bolverk. Whether Eyvind listens to
Iver is determined by how nice the Varl is to the Valka in the last 2
minutes of the game. The fate of the world depends on how well Iver
can grovel before the man who set the Apocalypse in motion. Any hint
of sarcasm, and Eyvind decides he would rather live in a lifeless
wasteland with his love, than save all of creation. I'm honestly not
sure who I'm more upset with, Eyvind, for being such a monumental
ass, or Stoic for thinking that the criteria for determining which of
the five endings the player receives should be based on four dialogue
choices in the last five minutes of the game (assuming the player
survived all the threats along the way and made it to the White
Tower.
To defeat Sauron Frodo has
to be really nice to Celebrimbor. He must praise his ancestors,
Curufin and Fëanor, honoring them with a song detailing their heroic
actions. Then the elf will unmake the One Ring.
In conclusion, after
completing The Banner Saga 1 and 2, I wanted to play the
complete Saga from start to finish.
In spite of a mediocre middle, I remained hopeful. But the finale,
the realization that the cause of the Apocalypse is the result of a
insane wizard and his lover, and that they are also the only two
people who can undo the catastrophe is asinine. Even worse, is the
fact that whether one receives the good ending or the bad is based
solely on four dialogue choices made in the last five minutes of the
game. Of course, The Banner Saga 3 is a tense, beautiful
game, with an incredible story to tell about the leadership of Rook
and Alette, the desperation of people against the end of the world,
and but it is shrouded in a great darkness, arising from an
unsuitable conclusion.
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