The Banner Saga 2 (2016)

I really enjoy The Banner Saga series. I can look past some of the flaws because I enjoy the simplicity of the mechanics, the music, and the art style. If you're a fan of strategy and turn based games, don't hesitate to buy these if you catch them on sale. Being available on multiple platforms, you probably wouldn't have to wait long.

It makes me so giddy building up my favorite characters and including them in every battle. You can have some of your heroes completely devastate enemies one after another, but don't get overly confident. There's this suspense before every encounter that has me eager to see how each turn plays out, and when an enemy makes a bad move, you can dish out the punishment.

I could almost just play the game one fight after another with a few lines of story mixed in, but the choices thrown on you as a leader give some potential for consequence. The choices you make, and the long march of the caravan gives something that feels completely unique to the series. The opportunities to sit back and soak up the scale of the game outside of the battles is one of my favorite things.

I really want to say this game is perfect because I enjoyed it so much, but one of my biggest complaints is the dialogue throughout the game. It feels like all the dialogue was written by one person, or at least a very few. Maybe it's unrealistic to expect multiple writers for a small studio, but what bothers me the most is how similar the text feels throughout the game. Every character seemed to have the same moody and sarcastic tone. Maybe this is a reflection of my own inner dialogue, or that you have multiple options when responding.

I was a little disappointed that I made it through the first and second game without giving much of a thought to some characters. I worried about a time when I wouldn't be able to rely on my overpowered characters, but that never happened. It seemed like if there was an ability that one hero had, if you dumped enough points into a similar class of a hero you prefer, they would get the option to take the same ability.

Overall, this was a fantastic game and I'm looking forward to when I can finish some other games in my backlog and catch the third installment in the series.

The story isn't quite as good as the first but it's still exceptionally beautiful and fun to play.

In this game I started to get slightly frustrated by some of the outcomes of decisions you made. Obviously outcomes being difficult to predict makes sense but sometimes the outcomes felt too random and punishing.

Playing as Bolverk wasn't as satisfying as some of the other characters but this was offset by the development of Alette's character.

The game reminds me of what I love most about videogames. That feeling of being a great tactician and making the right choices at the right time. Ever since I was little and I played Ogre Battle or Final Fantasy Tactics, the tactical rpg genre has always held my interest. This game is no exception.

For starters, its a continuing story. And when I say continuing, I mean for real you pick up right where The Banner Saga left off. Complete with importing the choices you made in the first game, which I admire very much. What is really interesting is that there are multiple branches, and the degree to which those branches differ from one another are really pretty impressive and enjoyable.

The battle mechanics are still a little strange to me honestly, but I got used to it quickly from the experience of playing the first game. Having your character STR be your attack and health still feels weird for sure. But you make due, and once you have full understanding of what Armor and Str do to your attacks and defenses for each unit you can really crackdown and punish your opponents for being in the wrong position or even attempting to harm you.

The survival mode was a great addition and kept me playing even longer than the campaign. I enjoy it a lot and I feel like more tactical RPGs could benefit from modes like this. You get to choose 6 heroes and then run through a gauntlet of 40 Battles. So it isn't true survival (as in traditional survival modes from fighting games and other genres essentially have you go on forever, until you die). As you progress you gain prestige points which allow you to upgrade your units or even purchase new ones. There are several different fun achievements to accomplish, such as defeating the survival mode gauntlet with all humans, all Varl, all women, not purchasing new units, never using the horn for extra Will, etc. This game really shines in this regard, as I feel its the most fun tactical RPG I've played in ages.

The story? Man... I love the story. And the art fits it so well. Sort of a Sword in the Stone disney/heavy metal hybrid. The narrative follows several threads which all converge towards the end. It is a little bit jarring to be invested in a party only to play a different side of the story with completely different units and characters, much like Saga Frontier 2 used to do. Once you get used to it, it becomes less bothersome. The switch happens maybe two or three times, and you kinda feel like without it the characters would get kinda boring because you aren't really delving in as deep as you could be. I think it was a good choice on their part, but I hope the third installment in this series involves less of that type of mechanic.

All in all, a wonderful game. Worth every penny, I'm glad I purchased it. Waiting for the next one for closure.

Here is a link to the trailer. It contains spoilers for some reason.