The Banner Saga

[Bjorn]

Finished this yesterday afternoon.  It's easily an early GOTY contender for me.  I get why it bounces off some people, whether it's the alternating turn combat, or preferring one half of the gameplay (adventure vs combat) over another.  But I pretty much loved every minute of it.  The final fight did come very close to making me throw my mouse across the room.

 

And there are so many interesting loose threads to be picked up in a future game, particularly

the giant prince's mysterious death and the dredge baby.

 

For people who have finished it...

 

...did you let Rook or Alette fire the shot? My natural inclination would have been to have Rook do it, anticipating that whoever took the shot might be killed and I am pretty compulsive about saving the girl in a game. But my entire offensive strategy was built around Rook. He was my ranged armor breaker (focused his stats on armor, will and exertion) plus the +3 armor breaking item, and then would close in on an enemy to Mark it if necessary. Ultimately I doubted my ability to win the final battle without him, which proved to be true. He delivered 21 points of armor damage to Bellower and used his Mark to ensure the kill when I was down to just 3 people, and all of them were injured.

If I replay it, I think I could save Alette and sacrifice Rook (assuming he dies if he takes the shot) if I leveled up other people and designed a different team. Which I am tempted to do. I think I could make a really fun, and almost completely different, team now that I know how to level people up and what the items are.

[kaputt]

Finished this yesterday afternoon.  It's easily an early GOTY contender for me.  I get why it bounces off some people, whether it's the alternating turn combat, or preferring one half of the gameplay (adventure vs combat) over another.  But I pretty much loved every minute of it.  The final fight did come very close to making me throw my mouse across the room. And there are so many interesting loose threads to be picked up in a future game, particularly

the giant prince's mysterious death and the dredge baby.

 For people who have finished it... 

...did you let Rook or Alette fire the shot? My natural inclination would have been to have Rook do it, anticipating that whoever took the shot might be killed and I am pretty compulsive about saving the girl in a game. But my entire offensive strategy was built around Rook. He was my ranged armor breaker (focused his stats on armor, will and exertion) plus the +3 armor breaking item, and then would close in on an enemy to Mark it if necessary. Ultimately I doubted my ability to win the final battle without him, which proved to be true. He delivered 21 points of armor damage to Bellower and used his Mark to ensure the kill when I was down to just 3 people, and all of them were injured.If I replay it, I think I could save Alette and sacrifice Rook (assuming he dies if he takes the shot) if I leveled up other people and designed a different team. Which I am tempted to do. I think I could make a really fun, and almost completely different, team now that I know how to level people up and what the items are.

Well,

I chose Rook to do it. It seemed right, he always did everything to save Alette. He was also my ranged "armor breaker", but after losing a couple of times the end battle, I equipped Alette with the item

[Bjorn]

Well,

I chose Rook to do it. It seemed right, he always did everything to save Alette. He was also my ranged "armor breaker", but after losing a couple of times the end battle, I equipped Alette with the item

 

Yeah, I wanted to do that, but...

 

Alette was only level 3 and it was a level 4 item. None of my other archers were level 4 and all of my warriors were built around strength damage. Do you have to take Alette into that battle if you pick Rook? I had to take both of them by picking Alette. That would kind of suck if no matter what, you had to take both of them into the final battle.

[kaputt]

Yes,

you have to take both when you choose Rook as well.

I just want to see how different things should be with the different paths.

Somehow, I've felt the death of Rook was really fitting in my game. I wasn't a very good leader - I did some important things to keep my clansmen alive, they recognized it, but the task was just too much for him, he seemed confused and extremely tired of it all.

Poor Rook, was on the brink of leaving that town and was almost having an affair with Oddlief (I liked how they handled this "romance", felt genuine).

[Bjorn]

Yes,

you have to take both when you choose Rook as well.

I just want to see how different things should be with the different paths.

Somehow, I've felt the death of Rook was really fitting in my game. I wasn't a very good leader - I did some important things to keep my clansmen alive, they recognized it, but the task was just too much for him, he seemed confused and extremely tired of it all.

Poor Rook, was on the brink of leaving that town and was almost having an affair with Oddlief (I liked how they handled this "romance", felt genuine).

 

Hmmm...

 

...that's really disappointing that they force 2 of your party members at the end no matter what.

I do really like your interpretation of your Rook, I can see how he could easily feel that way by the end.

[sclpls]

Yay settlement!

 

http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/17/5624980/king-settles-trademark-disputes-with-the-banner-saga-developer

[clyde]

I played a round of the free, multiplayer version Banner Saga: Factions two nights ago. It was an interesting game because we spent the first few rounds posturing.

Before the match begins you place your party in a secotion of the board, arranged however you want. For example I typically put my damage-sponges in the front and my archers behind them. But you can't see how the other player is arranging their party or if they are placing them in near the top, center, or bottom of the board. So sometimes, after placement, all the troops are revealed and I'll see that they placed their archers somewhat in between my fast, damage-dealers and their damage-sponges; this means that I can do a lot of damage to their archers by sacrificing a damage-dealer and gain a late-game advantage (archers are really powerful late game if you don't pick away at their health).

That was not the case here. I actually sent my fast, damage dealers North to prepare for a strong line of defense and then saw their archers in the South. They started setting up a west-facing line of defense even though I was starting to split my troops into a fast-moving, heavy damage group in the North and heavily defended archers in the South. It's usually a bad idea to split your troops in this game. I shouldn't focus too much on specifics. The point is that we were morphing our troop arrangements in response to each other for the first few rounds without a strike and the tension was constantly increasing. Eventually we were just waiting for the other one to present a vulnerablity in a turn previous to that of a piece that had an opportunity to take advantage of it.

I really enjoy that part in games. It reminds me of the posturing in Bushido Blade.

[srslyyou]

This just got dropped onto iOS for 10 bucks. iphone 4s and up. While obviously ipad is more ideal, I wonder how squinty it would be to play the iphone version. Games like this would make a 6 plus almost worth it. 

[Dewar]

Oooh, that might be a good game to pick up on my iPad Mini for bus trips.