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KickStarter The Banner Saga

MicoSelva

backlog digger
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Codex 2012 Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Divinity: Original Sin 2 Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
J1M No idea about subtitles, sorry. Try asking on GOG forums.
As far as save compatibility goes, the patch does not invalidate old save games, AFAIK.
 

victim

Arbiter
Possibly Retarded Vatnik
Joined
Feb 12, 2014
Messages
778
So far it sounds like Tales of Illyria with more C&C and possibly better combat. And graphics.

I really liked Tales of Illyria and am considering this game. But I don't know what some of the acronyms you guys keep dropping mean. C&C? COYA?
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
28,237
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
C&C- command and conquer, or choice & consequence. Pick one.
CYOA- Choose your own adventure.
Can also stand for Choking Your Own Appetite, etc.
 

victim

Arbiter
Possibly Retarded Vatnik
Joined
Feb 12, 2014
Messages
778
C&C- command and conquer, or choice & consequence. Pick one.
CYOA- Choose your own adventure.
Can also stand for Choking Your Own Appetite, etc.

Ha! Shoulda known COYA but for some reason I couldn't stop thinking Chase Your Own Ass (ie pointless fetch quests).
 

KoolNoodles

Arcane
Joined
Apr 28, 2012
Messages
3,545
Not a bad little game. The shortness of it really hurts when you get done, and that ending doesn't help things either. Leaves a bad taste in the mouth after a mostly enjoyable time. That said, played it with the gf, both had a blast roleplaying some of the choices, reveling in the "mistakes" and triumphs. Art style and music really go well together(crank the speakers up), as well as the glimpse at some of the mythology. Looked forward to coming across a new "god" statue every time, pretty memorable moments.

Really enjoyed the combat down the line, even if it felt limited(items/inventory) and repetitive at times. Would have liked to see that expanded. My girlfriend kind of hates squad-based TB combat but was able to keep playing because most battles were short, fun, and Vaarl smashing robots is quite satisfying.

Guess I'd give it a 7-7.5/10, with .5 taken off basically for that head scratcher of an ending. I hear there's an add-on or expansion in the works. That would be nice.
 

Trash

Pointing and laughing.
Joined
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Messages
29,683
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About 8 meters beneath sea level.
Not a bad little game. The shortness of it really hurts when you get done, and that ending doesn't help things either. Leaves a bad taste in the mouth after a mostly enjoyable time. That said, played it with the gf, both had a blast roleplaying some of the choices, reveling in the "mistakes" and triumphs. Art style and music really go well together(crank the speakers up), as well as the glimpse at some of the mythology. Looked forward to coming across a new "god" statue every time, pretty memorable moments.

Really enjoyed the combat down the line, even if it felt limited(items/inventory) and repetitive at times. Would have liked to see that expanded. My girlfriend kind of hates squad-based TB combat but was able to keep playing because most battles were short, fun, and Vaarl smashing robots is quite satisfying.

Guess I'd give it a 7-7.5/10, with .5 taken off basically for that head scratcher of an ending. I hear there's an add-on or expansion in the works. That would be nice.

This was the first part in a trilogy.
 

Malakal

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
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Messages
10,266
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Poland
Those reviews are horrible, they never say anything about games. If I wanted to see people suffer I would download some snuff films.
 

KoolNoodles

Arcane
Joined
Apr 28, 2012
Messages
3,545
Not a bad little game. The shortness of it really hurts when you get done, and that ending doesn't help things either. Leaves a bad taste in the mouth after a mostly enjoyable time. That said, played it with the gf, both had a blast roleplaying some of the choices, reveling in the "mistakes" and triumphs. Art style and music really go well together(crank the speakers up), as well as the glimpse at some of the mythology. Looked forward to coming across a new "god" statue every time, pretty memorable moments.

Really enjoyed the combat down the line, even if it felt limited(items/inventory) and repetitive at times. Would have liked to see that expanded. My girlfriend kind of hates squad-based TB combat but was able to keep playing because most battles were short, fun, and Vaarl smashing robots is quite satisfying.

Guess I'd give it a 7-7.5/10, with .5 taken off basically for that head scratcher of an ending. I hear there's an add-on or expansion in the works. That would be nice.

This was the first part in a trilogy.

Awesome, looking forward to the rest then. It certainly seemed that way, but it would have been nice to have a "part 1" or "to be continued" in there. Unless I missed something, which is probable.
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2011
Messages
2,234
fucking disappointed with that ending and overall shortness. but good god those songs near godstones. my dick was so fucking hard:yeah:
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,232
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
http://gamingbolt.com/the-banner-saga-interview-standing-on-the-shoulders-of-giants

The good news: Stoic Games’ The Banner Saga is defined more than by the silly trademark issues that resulted from Candy Crush dev King. Even better news: The Banner Saga is already one of the best games of the year, and showcased a mature, forthcoming approach to player choice and character development than your average AAA title. Even though Stoic Games has the BioWare pedigree, it’s still amazing that they’ve been able to put out a great RPG even while working within an indie development structure.

Stoic Games designer and co-founder Alex Thomas spoke to us about the trials and tribulations of creating The Banner Saga, the motivations behind its design, addressing any complaints and much more.

Ravi Sinha: From out of nowhere, The Banner Saga went from a promising tactical RPG to being one of the most compelling games to watch this year. How does that make you feel?

Alex Thomas: It’s pretty amazing, in all honesty. We went into it knowing we were making a niche title- when you break it down it’s a thoughtful strategy game combined with reading a full-sized novel. There’s a reason we never went for publisher funding. We ended up with more reviews on metacritic than Double Fine’s Kickstarter hit, which we found pretty incredible.

We got something like over 250 requests for review code. I think some of it had to do with a new IP from previous BioWare devs, some of it had to do with the unique look and original gameplay, some people were really curious about what the game was at all, and a lot of people wanted to know how one of the first big Kickstarter releases would pan out. I think a lot of people couldn’t wait to publicly call us a huge success or a huge failure, so I’m incredibly relieved the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.



Ravi Sinha: When you left Bioware to kick-start The Banner Saga, how did you first conceive of it? What were your greatest motivators in opting for a mature, Viking-themed game?

Alex Thomas: Everybody likes to say this but we really set out to make the game we wanted to make. One of the review comments that sticks out most in my mind is that The Banner Saga is a “game made by artists who didn’t compromise on their vision”. For better or worse I think this is accurate.

We were fortunate enough that other people came along for the ride. We’ve gotten a lot of feedback on the game and we will be refining a lot of systems for the sequel, but we’re not concerned about the smaller subset of players who were just not into the gameplay. We’re not making a game for everybody, and on a personal level I wish there were more games for adults.

Ravi Sinha: The Banner Saga shares more than a little in common with the likes of Dragon Age and Mass Effect with regards to the choices players make but you chose to overhaul the norms of RPGs in favour of having one’s choices follow them through till the end, even when they would face loss. How easy or difficult was it to implement this system and how did it go about influencing combat and story-telling?

Alex Thomas: Making all of your choices matter was probably the hardest thing I had to do as a designer and writer. We designed a game from the ground-up based on making choices, not the other way around. Each system had to have hooks that we could manipulate through the choices you make so that they have weight. We had to have a cast of characters large enough that you could lose allies without making the game unplayable.

We had to have compelling stories for upwards of 30 individuals, and they had to be unique and fun in combat, too. The number of things we juggled to make this game work was pretty overwhelming at times. What a lot of people don’t realize is that the more complex your story and the choices, the more simple the game itself needs to be. When you look at older games and wonder how they managed to have compelling gameplay that seems to elude modern games, it’s because they didn’t require 3D art, voice acting, complex animation or massive amounts of cinematics.



Ravi Sinha: Another interesting aspect of The Banner Saga has been the character conversations. Needless to say, they’re cinematic and highly unorthodox. How did the idea come about, especially with regards to making them somewhat 2D?

Alex Thomas: The conversation system was a total shot in the dark for us. There are tons of games that have static portraits talking to each other, but they’re usually an abstraction; take Fire Emblem’s conversations, for example. I don’t know of any that have used our particular system.

I got the idea that you could do a more personal conversation system when I was working on the cinematics team at BioWare where we did a lot of conversation with simple over-the-shoulder cameras. Because of restrictions we had on that game we could only use static cameras, so I became really familiar with making a conversation work with limited angles. Using the same portraits we created for our character screens, we were able to get the most out of that art. In this case since we knew there would be a lot of dialogue in the game we tried to make the most immersive approach we could with limited resources.

Ravi Sinha: Some publications have criticized the lack of variety in combat. What are your thoughts on this?

Alex Thomas: It’s a valid complaint! We’ve had plans for more varieties of combat and we didn’t have time to implement them, opting instead to really fine-tune what we did have, which is well-balanced last-man-standing combat. We’re addressing this first and foremost in the sequel: characters will have more abilities available to them in combat, there will be new classes, and battles will have more objectives with different goals.

On this note, though, it’s always interesting to me is that reviewers see things differently from normal players. If you take your time and play the game for a couple hours a day it feels pretty good. If you’re forced to sit down and finish the whole thing in one 10-hour session because you’re on a deadline, yeah, I can see how it would feel a little repetitive.

Ravi Sinha: Bonus question: Now that the game has successfully launched what is everyone from the development team up to? A much needed break I suppose!

Alex Thomas: A break, indeed! We just got back from a couple weeks vacation and after attending GDC in San Francisco we’ll be back on to production, working on the sequel. The great thing is that I don’t think we’ll ever need to do 15 hours day again, and by remaining a three-person team we can keep things nice and casual without having to worry about the problems that come with running a large studio, and we stay completely independent. We’ve already been able to pay off all our debts and fund the entire sequel, so we couldn’t ask for much more than that.
 

opium fiend

Augur
Joined
Dec 30, 2006
Messages
546
This is one of the most atmospheric games I've seen in a while and even reading the map's landmarks gave me a boner. What a great contrast to, say, Ferelden.

(We've been traveling without food for days and I've lost many fighters and varl :( )
 

LivingOne

Savant
Joined
May 5, 2012
Messages
485
Austin Wintory, the composer behind the soundtracks to games like Journey and The Banner Saga, might be in trouble for...doing his job. The American Federation of Musicians, his own union, is thinking of fining him $50,000. For making video game soundtracks.

He details the background and causes for this in the YouTube video below, in which he claims that no AFM musician has recorded a video game sountrack since 2012. Which sounds insane.


If the video's not working, or you just want to skim, here's the accompanying statement:

I, Austin Wintory, am facing a $50,000 fine from my own union for - The American Federation of Musicians - and have decided to speak up against my union's blockage of ALL new video game recordings

Several years ago Ray Hair, the President of the American Federation of Musicians put together a Videogame Agreement working committee to develop a new game agreement.
The new Videogame Agreement was approved by the AFM's International Executive Board and went into effect December 2012. This new contract was done without allowing any composers, musicians or any of the 90,000 members of the union given an opportunity to vote on it.

"The new administration, was deeply committed to fixing the videogame mess," explained committee member and Recording Musicians Association (RMA) President Marc Sazer at the time. He also predicted, incorrectly, that "the new agreement should induce employers to sit down and negotiate with the AFM."

Nothing could be further from the reality of what happened.

The end result was an agreement that was universally rejected by every single video game developer and publisher, and has gone completely unused since the day it was created.

For almost two years now, under this contract, no union member has been allowed to work on a new video game soundtrack as a result.

"Unfortunately employers have not signed the current agreement," admits AFM Local 47 Vice President John Acosta who represent the recording musicians of Los Angeles, "and the limited work we were doing before has all but vanished into non-union land."

This contract created an untenable situation. Composers and musicians have continued to need to earn a living in this industry. Those musicians and composers therefore we've been forced to work without union sanction because the union has failed to signed any video game companies to work with them in almost two years.

After having successfully recorded the iOS game HORN with AFM musicians, I attempted to do the same with THE BANNER SAGA. The unusable contract forced me elsewhere, and I soon found the remarkable Dallas Wind Symphony. This collaboration happened as a direct result of the AFM's unusable contract, and I am now being punished for simply doing my job under those circumstances.

In an article telling entitled "Education and Discipline in the Videogame Industry," AFM President Ray Hair declares, "The time has come for education and discipline," "within our ranks" as well as within the Video Game industry.

"I don't think anybody give you anything because they like you," said AFM President Hair recently, "In the union business they give you things because they are afraid of what you are going to do to them."

Simply put, this current leadership does NOT represent me, and I believe does not represent the best interests of AFM musicians.

http://kotaku.com/journey-banner-saga-composer-might-get-fined-50-000-1589048563

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqvraGNfKVY
 
Self-Ejected

Bubbles

I'm forever blowing
Joined
Aug 7, 2013
Messages
7,817
Is America so deep in the throes of liberal fascism that it is literally impossible for a musician to quit his union membership if he disagrees with their policies?
 

KoolNoodles

Arcane
Joined
Apr 28, 2012
Messages
3,545
Is America so deep in the throes of liberal fascism that it is literally impossible for a musician to quit his union membership if he disagrees with their policies?

Short answer: no. Slightly longer answer: He was in the union for its perks and broke their legally binding contract, which it sounds like he knew about(regardless, ignorance is not a defense), and now is complaining after he made money(through Banner Saga) and they are planning to fine him. He could have opted out of the union before going under contract(presumably) with the Banner Saga team. He didn't, and lo and behold there are consequences.

Full disclaimer: I think labor unions are a necessary part of the labor market.

Edit: It also sucks for him and I loved the music in the game, but cmon buddy, read the fine print(or just expect that when you do video game work, when nobody else in your union has for two years and it's not allowed, that something might happen other than getting a paycheck).
 
Last edited:

Whiran

Magister
Joined
Feb 3, 2014
Messages
641
He should have quit the union.
Yep.

He willfully broke his obligations to his Union while remaining in it and then complains that they are going to sanction him for doing just that.

If he wants to and is able to make a living composing music for the video game industry that does not accept his Union's contract then leave the Union and carry on but it seems that he also wanted to do Union sanctioned jobs while merrily breaking his Union obligations.

Although, this may just be a "power play" to get himself elected into the Union leadership.
 

Burning Bridges

Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
27,562
Location
Tampon Bay
How much money did the soundtrack cost anyway? I'm sure whole games could have been produced for much less.
 

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