Preview Banner Saga 2 Preview at IGN + Teaser Trailer

[Infinitron]

Tags: Stoic Studio; The Banner Saga 2

In contrast to many other developers, Stoic Studio, creators of The Banner Saga and its upcoming sequel The Banner Saga 2, seem positively averse to marketing and hype. In fact, we've heard almost nothing from them since the sequel was announced last December. Lately, however, there are winds of change in the air. A couple of weeks ago, Stoic released a short Banner Saga 2 teaser trailer, and now, there's a preview of the game at IGN, which I'll quote in its entirety:

If I were to name the one thing The Banner Saga had going for it when it came out last year, it would be "heart." It wove a dire, utterly human, heart-wrenching tale with humble threads. Much like last year's Child of Light, it felt like something that existed because its creators needed to make it, not because the free market demanded it. As much as it charmed me though, the RPG/resource management nerd in me didn't find its gameplay quite meaty enough. Still, I'm thankful that the state of the industry is such that we can have The Banner Saga 2, though I'm even more thankful that there's just a bit more to chew on this time around, whether you're making decisions on the battlefield or off.

Without getting into spoiler territory, the story picks up mere weeks after the closing events of The Banner Saga, and things have not improved. In fact, depending on the choices you made towards the end, the situation at the start of the game will be rather desperate, with characters struggling to cope with the repercussions. All your choices from the original carry over, shaping the experience as early as the title screen, and continuing on all the way into the combat itself.

Combat variety was a bit sparce in the original, but The Banner Saga 2 has made clear efforts to remedy that, some of which are present right from the opening tutorial battle. There are new units on both sides of the battlefield, giving you a greater number of problems to solve, and a deeper toolbox to solve them with. Dredge Skullkers are mutated hounds that hunt in packs, turning invisible and surrounding characters only to strike in ferocious unison. The Dredge Direguard on the other hand is a support unit that can turn parts of the battlefield harmful to your army while buffing his allies. Take one out though, and the rest of the Dredge scatter. Do you deal with his buffed cohorts, or do you take him on directly to try to end things quickly? Decisions like this make combat more interesting and challenging.

Another variable is how your decisions during story events affect combat scenarios. Towards the end of my demo, i had to chose how my caravan would meet a sudden Dredge ambush, and each option resulted in a different starting situation for the fight. In fact, my choice got an important character killed, though their sacrifice wasn't in vain; they had cut a swathe through the enemy forces, giving me a significantly easier time than I normally would have had. This is still one of my favorite things about The Banner Saga: not only do your decisions matter, but you never know how they will matter, or to what degree. It shuns the gamey convention of telling you exactly what will happen before it does, leaving you to go purely on instinct, and to suffer the tension of discovering what your actions have wrought.

Everything has a cost here, even if it isn't a material one. The new Shield Maiden has a special ability that will weaken an enemy's armor, but at the expense of her own. You can now dual class a character, giving them access to more than one class ability, but they'll never reach the raw level of power they would have had you kept them dedicated to their first role. You'll have more opportunities than ever to recruit caravan members for your army, But they could be scouring the surrounding area for additional supplies instead. What good are soldiers who die of hunger before they raise their sword and shield?

As the second in a proposed trilogy, it goes without saying that you should play its predecessor before moving on to The Banner Saga 2. If you were among the people who felt the first was just too short for your liking, your mind won't be changed this time out, as this installment is about the same size as the first, and will likely leave as many unanswered questions too. That's just fine for me though, given what I get in return. There's a gravity to this series that's pretty scarce these days; a commitment to consequence and storytelling that never comes up to breathe. The Banner Saga 2, like its prequel, is quite satisfied with being "not for everyone," which is probably why it feels just right for me.
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The preview also comes with a gallery of screenshots, which you can view over there. It all certainly sounds promising. Hopefully we'll have more information to share about The Banner Saga sooner rather than later.

 

[Morality Games]

That means I have to finish the Banner Saga? Ugh.

Thank the god of pop a moles for easy mode.

 

[Azeot]

one thing I hated - HATED - about the Banner Saga, apart fro the boring combat, was that so many choices, even important ones, were uninformed. There were no options to investigate something, gather information, evaluate pro and cons... nope, just some random result you couldn't have possibly foreseen, sometimes completely illogical. I hope they'll do something about it, but I highly doubt it, so I'm not that exited at all for this.

 

[Morality Games]

Maybe. But:

Mega Man --> Mega Man 2
Metroid --> Super Metroid
Baldur's Gate --> Baldur's Gate 2
Gothic --> Gothic 2
Shadowrun Returns --> Dragonfall

So on and so forth.

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

I got BS for $6AUD.

Have had my fill of BS. Will not buy into BS part 2.

 

[Azeot]

Maybe. But:

Mega Man --> Mega Man 2
Metroid --> Super Metroid
Baldur's Gate --> Baldur's Gate 2
Gothic --> Gothic 2
Shadowrun Returns --> Dragonfall

So on and so forth.

dragon age -> dragon age 2
mass effect -> mass effect 2
risen -> risen 2
ultima 7 -> the things after that

ans so on

 

[Infinitron]

I love it. But it's definitely not for everyone.

The Banner Saga 2, like its prequel, is quite satisfied with being "not for everyone," which is probably why it feels just right for me.

Infinitron revealed as IGN dorito muncher

 

[himmy]

Maybe. But:

Mega Man --> Mega Man 2
Metroid --> Super Metroid
Baldur's Gate --> Baldur's Gate 2
Gothic --> Gothic 2
Shadowrun Returns --> Dragonfall

So on and so forth.

There are plenty of examples to the contrary, but I remember reading a quote from a Romanian gaming magazine as a kid that made me really interested in following video games and that was something like "video games are the only medium in which the sequel is usually better than the original". The decline and the grabbing of franchises by large studios who didn't know what to do with them stings a bit, but I still believe that to be one of the most uplifting things anyone can say about video games.

 

[InspectorRumpole]

Loved the first one, and it sounds like they've improved on a lot of things, so i'm eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

 

[Volrath]

Wasn't the first one a glorified facebook game?

 

[Serus]

one thing I hated - HATED - about the Banner Saga, apart fro the boring combat, was that so many choices, even important ones, were uninformed. There were no options to investigate something, gather information, evaluate pro and cons... nope, just some random result you couldn't have possibly foreseen, sometimes completely illogical. I hope they'll do something about it, but I highly doubt it, so I'm not that exited at all for this.

Are you kidding me/us/the Codex/yourself ? Choices in Banner Saga ? Important ones ? Seriously ? What choices ? Those were in 9 out of 10 cases fake or of zero importance to the game. The only real ones were about getting additional companions (and as you said - you had to make them blind). Every other choice in the game was fake or irrelevant.
Combat on the other hand was good - or at least passable and at times even a little bit challenging. In fact combat was the only gameplay element that the devs did ok, not great but ok. Everything else was mediocre or worse.

IF the second part has real gameplay outside combat then i might be interested but i doubt it - it will probably be like part 1 = make some fake choices without any consequences (tm) + some ok-ish combat and nice graphics. And retarded plot.

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

The only decent aspect of BS was the art, my bro.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Never played the first one. I had wanted to, but this review put me off:
http://redlettermedia.com/pre-rec-the-banner-saga/

Mainly the part about choices and consequences not meaning much, iirc. Looks pretty though.

 

[Diablo169]

I really wanted to love the original, the gameplay just didn't click for me though. Might give it another bash this week. Fucking love the art-style and setting.

 

[Serus]

You mean tactical combat on featureless terrain, with a gamey system that incents metagamey player behavior like not killing weak enemies, and letting non-dps classes get kills? Eh.

I mean the combat in Banner Saga part 1. It was the best gameplay element imo. All those weakness you mentioned are real but compared to other elements: fake C&C, no exploration, boring story (it starts well but fast becomes the usual: group of heroes against very ancient, very evil - evil), simplistic character development, combat was the best part. The combat system was interesting, it had some flaws and holes as you mentioned but overall was based on good ideas imo. More games should try making the "life/health" stat having direct impact on a character/unit performance. Darklands in early 1990s did it but majority of crpg allow to fight at full or almost full effectivness even when almost dead. Skills in Banner Saga were also mostly well done. Overall i think combat was ok - with some improvements it has the potential to be really good. All other gameplay systems in Banner Saga have zero potential and need to be reworked from the ground imo. Of curse it won't happen so Banner Saga 2 will be a mediocre game with nice art direction just like the first part. I'd love to be proven wrong.

Of curse the best part of the game was graphics and art direction - no doubt about it.

 

[APGunner]

First part was amazing, despite being a game where you literally can't lose. It was all about the atmosphere, beautiful music and artwork. Hope the second part is at least as good as the first one.

 

[Notorious]

I wonder how they will deal with my choices. Like everyone in my caravan begin dead and such... (Couldn't be arsed to feed those fuckers)

 

[roshan]

one thing I hated - HATED - about the Banner Saga, apart fro the boring combat, was that so many choices, even important ones, were uninformed. There were no options to investigate something, gather information, evaluate pro and cons... nope, just some random result you couldn't have possibly foreseen, sometimes completely illogical. I hope they'll do something about it, but I highly doubt it, so I'm not that exited at all for this.

Are you kidding me/us/the Codex/yourself ? Choices in Banner Saga ? Important ones ? Seriously ? What choices ? Those were in 9 out of 10 cases fake or of zero importance to the game. The only real ones were about getting additional companions (and as you said - you had to make them blind). Every other choice in the game was fake or irrelevant.
Combat on the other hand was good - or at least passable and at times even a little bit challenging. In fact combat was the only gameplay element that the devs did ok, not great but ok. Everything else was mediocre or worse.

IF the second part has real gameplay outside combat then i might be interested but i doubt it - it will probably be like part 1 = make some fake choices without any consequences (tm) + some ok-ish combat and nice graphics. And retarded plot.

You mean tactical combat on featureless terrain, with a gamey system that incents metagamey player behavior like not killing weak enemies, and letting non-dps classes get kills? Eh.

The game plays just fine without anyone abusing the turn order. If you tried to metagame the turn order, that's your own fault, the game itself was trying to simulate board game play and there was absolutely no incentive to metagame. Don't blame Banner Saga for your own decision to play in a silly manner.

 

[roshan]

I mean the combat in Banner Saga part 1. It was the best gameplay element imo. All those weakness you mentioned are real but compared to other elements: fake C&C, no exploration, boring story (it starts well but fast becomes the usual: group of heroes against very ancient, very evil - evil), simplistic character development, combat was the best part. The combat system was interesting, it had some flaws and holes as you mentioned but overall was based on good ideas imo. More games should try making the "life/health" stat having direct impact on a character/unit performance. Darklands in early 1990s did it but majority of crpg allow to fight at full or almost full effectivness even when almost dead. Skills in Banner Saga were also mostly well done. Overall i think combat was ok - with some improvements it has the potential to be really good. All other gameplay systems in Banner Saga have zero potential and need to be reworked from the ground imo. Of curse it won't happen so Banner Saga 2 will be a mediocre game with nice art direction just like the first part. I'd love to be proven wrong.

Of curse the best part of the game was graphics and art direction - no doubt about it.

What very evil evil? The game actually did a good job of humanizing the dredge towards the end. The main villains as of yet have not even been revealed.

Furthermore, unit advancement was excellent, you really had to consider how to develop each individual unit, whether to play to their inherent strengths, or try to negate their weaknesses. Furthermore, itemization was also excellent, with one good item you can completely tweak the way a unit plays. Not featuring lots of massive but meaningless numbers is not a detriment to the game in any way.

 

[roshan]

one thing I hated - HATED - about the Banner Saga, apart fro the boring combat, was that so many choices, even important ones, were uninformed. There were no options to investigate something, gather information, evaluate pro and cons... nope, just some random result you couldn't have possibly foreseen, sometimes completely illogical. I hope they'll do something about it, but I highly doubt it, so I'm not that exited at all for this.

In Banner Saga, the choices were not uninformed. Rather, you had to use cultural knowledge and intuition to make the right decisions. Just because there was no quest compass or step by step journal updates does not mean that the results were random or unforeseen. In fact you have some people who complain about the exact opposite - that it was too easy to figure out the best course of action.

 

[skyst]

one thing I hated - HATED - about the Banner Saga, apart fro the boring combat, was that so many choices, even important ones, were uninformed. There were no options to investigate something, gather information, evaluate pro and cons... nope, just some random result you couldn't have possibly foreseen, sometimes completely illogical. I hope they'll do something about it, but I highly doubt it, so I'm not that exited at all for this.

Strange, I had a much different impression of the game than you. Many of the choices were quick, spur of the moment decisions - like choosing how to deal with an attacking enemy (charge it, shoot it with a bow, etc) or making a leadership decision - every option's result need not and should not be revealed. I haven't played the game since completing it at launch, but I recall scenarios where characters would permanently perish if you made the "wrong" decision. Making these decisions uninformed and potentially losing party members is how the game is intended to be played. If you need the results of a decision revealed (Shoot it with your bow. [You will miss and the enemy will kill your Fighter.]) or if you're willing to savescum to get the "best" result, then yeah, you're not going to like the game. You need to roll with the punches here.

Also, with the lives of so many party members on the line, how is the c&c illusionary? Obviously the game is linear (its a game about walking left ffs) but I played it about halfway through right after beating it the first time as well as watching my wife play it and noticed quite a few instances with varying quest rewards and roster changes - two very tangible c&c results.

 

[Azeot]

Strange, I had a much different impression of the game than you. Many of the choices were quick, spur of the moment decisions - like choosing how to deal with an attacking enemy (charge it, shoot it with a bow, etc) or making a leadership decision - every option's result need not and should not be revealed. I haven't played the game since completing it at launch, but I recall scenarios where characters would permanently perish if you made the "wrong" decision. Making these decisions uninformed and potentially losing party members is how the game is intended to be played. If you need the results of a decision revealed (Shoot it with your bow. [You will miss and the enemy will kill your Fighter.]) or if you're willing to savescum to get the "best" result, then yeah, you're not going to like the game. You need to roll with the punches here.

Also, with the lives of so many party members on the line, how is the c&c illusionary? Obviously the game is linear (its a game about walking left ffs) but I played it about halfway through right after beating it the first time as well as watching my wife play it and noticed quite a few instances with varying quest rewards and roster changes - two very tangible c&c results.

Not all choices are in "quick, do or die" events, some are made in moments where losing 10 seconds or 10 minutes doesn't really make a difference. And you and me are talking completely different stuff - I never said "I want to see the results of each option". What I said, is that I want to make informed choices. I want to be able to ask people, talk, have descriptions of the environment and so on. All the stuff a reasonable person might want to do if his life depended on the result of his action.

 

[Azeot]

In Banner Saga, the choices were not uninformed. Rather, you had to use cultural knowledge and intuition to make the right decisions. Just because there was no quest compass or step by step journal updates does not mean that the results were random or unforeseen. In fact you have some people who complain about the exact opposite - that it was too easy to figure out the best course of action.

Cultural knowledge and intuition? Seriously? So you are going to rely on cultural knowledge and intuition to save your life and your daughter's each and every time even if it is not necessary?

 

[roshan]

In Banner Saga, the choices were not uninformed. Rather, you had to use cultural knowledge and intuition to make the right decisions. Just because there was no quest compass or step by step journal updates does not mean that the results were random or unforeseen. In fact you have some people who complain about the exact opposite - that it was too easy to figure out the best course of action.

Cultural knowledge and intuition? Seriously? So you are going to rely on cultural knowledge and intuition to save your life and your daughter's each and every time even if it is not necessary?

That's how shit works when you are on the brink of extinction. You don't have certain luxuries. BTW, when most people complain about the CNC and the "random results" here on the Codex, what they're really complaining about are the CONSEQUENCES. In every other RPG, you make choices, but you suffer no consequences at all. Side with X? You get a nice new weapon! Side with Y? You get a nice new armor! The reality is that the CNC a lot of faggots here like in older RPG games is a sham. Never do you suffer actual consequences, never do you actually lose something you have. Whatever you pick, you can rest knowing that it will leave you with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Banner Saga is probably the first game that actually made an effort to implement real consequences in an RPG.

 

[Infinitron]

Vault Dweller brolapsed this