Game News The Banner Saga Released

[Major_Blackhart]

I'll probably get it.

 

[skyst]

So, has anybody completed it on hard (all the way)?
I was playing on hard, but that final battle was just impossible.

I played on hard (naturally) and spent two hours or so losing at the final battle. The rest of the game felt right but there is an extreme difficulty spike at the very end. Additionally, the design of the final encounter on hard (difficulty changes enemy selection and positioning in addition to armor/strength/etc) seems to not only encourage but require a certain strategy that was basically impossible for my characters to accomplish.

So I bumped it down to easy to see the ending and shelved the game. As much as one can shelf downloaded software, anyway.

 

[InspectorRumpole]

So, has anybody completed it on hard (all the way)?
I was playing on hard, but that final battle was just impossible.

I played on hard (naturally) and spent two hours or so losing at the final battle. The rest of the game felt right but there is an extreme difficulty spike at the very end. Additionally, the design of the final encounter on hard (difficulty changes enemy selection and positioning in addition to armor/strength/etc) seems to not only encourage but require a certain strategy that was basically impossible for my characters to accomplish.

So I bumped it down to easy to see the ending and shelved the game. As much as one can shelf downloaded software, anyway.

It certainly also requires optimum characters and builds/items. Which strategy do you mean, and why couldn't you pull it off? (insert spoiler)

I took it down to Normal to finish the damn game, even though it bothered me greatly haha.

I think it's possible under the right circumstances (new playthrough), but there was no way my underlevelled and injured party could manage it on Hard at that point.

 

[skyst]

The proper strategy seems like

Spoiler

Using 3 or maybe 4 archers behind defensive Varl to strip armor quickly from Bellower, allowing you to have an uninjured team going into phase 2. I tended to use powerful melee Varl to pound my way through hard, worked great until faced with that final encounter - there was no viable way to get toe to toe with Bellower without getting the party trashed before phase 2. Didn't help that my morale was low going into it, either. My best attempt had 2 or 3 characters wounded in phase 1 and managed to train the majority of Bellower's defensive line into a corner, exposing him. Still not enough power left to chew through his regeneration and turn order skipping mechanics. Blegh.

I never even tried it on normal. I figured that if I was going to pussy out I may as well go all out and waste less time.

 

[x4nti]

I finished it on hard earlier this night. The last battle was by far the most difficult in the game. Especially since I had completely disregarded to level Alette; she was still on rank 2.

My strategy:

Spoiler

I brought Gunnelf, Hakon, Griss (besides Iver, Rook and Alette). Generally they had str enhancing items. I Basically charged forward aggressively (sacrificing Alette as soon as possible) sneaked past the enemy lines and used Hakon and Rook to break Bellowers armor. Rook had str 14 with an obsidian ring, and it turned out to be important for getting the opportunity to fire that arrow. I didn't kill any of the dredge in the first phase but Hakon unfortunately fell. The second phase went pretty much like a normal battle - I maimed everyone but the big baddy. Both Gunnelf and Hakon died from counter attacks when I broke Bellowers armor. Griss and Iver finally took him down.

 

[InspectorRumpole]

I finished it on hard earlier this night. The last battle was by far the most difficult in the game. Especially since I had completely disregarded to level Alette; she was still on rank 2.

My strategy:

Spoiler

I brought Gunnelf, Hakon, Griss (besides Iver, Rook and Alette). Generally they had str enhancing items. I Basically charged forward aggressively (sacrificing Alette as soon as possible) sneaked past the enemy lines and used Hakon and Rook to break Bellowers armor. Rook had str 14 with an obsidian ring, and it turned out to be important for getting the opportunity to fire that arrow. I didn't kill any of the dredge in the first phase but Hakon unfortunately fell. The second phase went pretty much like a normal battle - I maimed everyone but the big baddy. Both Gunnelf and Hakon died from counter attacks when I broke Bellowers armor. Griss and Iver finally took him down.

Spoiler

Hmm how could you sacrifice Alette since she was the one carrying the arr... Duh, just realised i had given the arrow to Alette, which, in hindsight was pretty stupid since i hadn't levelled her much. She had like 8 ST, but there was no way of changing that decision. It somehow made up for it that she carried an item that would reflect 1 ST. So whenever Bellower would use his "deafening blow" attack-thingy, she wouldnt get injured from it.
My own strategy revolved around Rook having 3 pts in armour breaking, 3 pts in Exertion, and an item which gave him +3 to Armour Break. He would take down armour quickly (-9), and Hakon would jump in and smash the big Dredge.
I found a strategy that worked great against Bellower in the second phase.
I had brought Oddleif, and had her fire her Rain of Arrows close to Bellower. Then i hit Bellower, and he would get an instant turn. But the Rain of Arrows would stop him in his tracks. It took some guessing and baiting, and didn't work every time, but it was really successful overall

 

[bledcarrot]

Additionally, the design of the final encounter on hard (difficulty changes enemy selection and positioning in addition to armor/strength/etc) seems to not only encourage but require a certain strategy that was basically impossible for my characters to accomplish.

So I bumped it down to easy to see the ending and shelved the game. As much as one can shelf downloaded software, anyway.

I really struggled with that last battle, I think for a few reasons. I had quite a few injured and the remaining units I had been holding off on levelling up. I spent way too much on supplies that abruptly ended up being unnecessary, and I was left with a bunch of promotable units but without the renown to level them. A foolish move on my part, but I do think that last battle seemed a little bit of a disproportional leap. I won every other fight, except for one I think, with some challenge on normal, but had to bump down the difficulty to easy to get through the last one. I got a bit frustrated because I just didn't feel like I had the resources to finish it on normal, even though I'd gone through the rest of the game at that level. In the end I just wanted to see the end of the game.

 

[Visperas]

Well, well, after so many battles I had to switch from Hard to Normal...

Spoiler

In the Varl city, I managed to kill the Stonesinger and then another of those double battles. C'mon... The Rook side is much more difficult than the Hakon one but that last double battle to take the bridge down is just too much. I could've rolled with the defeat but I'm getting a bit tired of the combat system. Also, the gap between normal and hard seems too large, in normal I won the second battle, the one against the varl, with my three archers intact. Can anyone tell me what happens if you don't take down the bridge? Does Ubin find you? What does he say? In my playthrough, the Dredge took the city very fast anyway so it was useless, except for the XP.

 

[fastjack]

Well, well, after so many battles I had to switch from Hard to Normal...

Spoiler

In the Varl city, I managed to kill the Stonesinger and then another of those double battles. C'mon... The Rook side is much more difficult than the Hakon one but that last double battle to take the bridge down is just too much. I could've rolled with the defeat but I'm getting a bit tired of the combat system. Also, the gap between normal and hard seems too large, in normal I won the second battle, the one against the varl, with my three archers intact. Can anyone tell me what happens if you don't take down the bridge? Does Ubin find you? What does he say? In my playthrough, the Dredge took the city very fast anyway so it was useless, except for the XP.

Spoiler

I played on normal and kept fighting at the bridge in the varl city until it was no longer an option. The last thing I remember is Fasolt(?) or whoever was leading the bridge attacks/defenses died and then iirc that one-armed varl stormed in and told the king to let the bridge be destroyed or else. Does this answer your question?

 

[oscar]

Spoiler

I played on normal and kept fighting at the bridge in the varl city until it was no longer an option. The last thing I remember is Fasolt(?) or whoever was leading the bridge attacks/defenses died and then iirc that one-armed varl stormed in and told the king to let the bridge be destroyed or else. Does this answer your question?

Spoiler

Isn't there an option to simply leave? What happens in that case?

 

[Raghar]

I played on hard (naturally) and spent two hours or so losing at the final battle. The rest of the game felt right but there is an extreme difficulty spike at the very end. Additionally, the design of the final encounter on hard (difficulty changes enemy selection and positioning in addition to armor/strength/etc) seems to not only encourage but require a certain strategy that was basically impossible for my characters to accomplish.

So I bumped it down to easy to see the ending and shelved the game. As much as one can shelf downloaded software, anyway.

Hard is supposed to be hard. Developers allowed normal difficulty, which isn't particularly easy. Have you played Imperium Galactica I and II, on hard? And are you still live to tell the tale?

Personally I dislike games when normal is overly easy, and hard is equal to type of normal difficulty which requires the player to be willing to spend the effort.

 

[Tigranes]

I finished, Hard on everything then just put down to Easy for the end battle. I'm fine with the difficulty, I was just sick of it at the end (having already restarted halfway through). I think the problem is that the battle system on hard is pretty much "here are a highly limited number of things you can do, and therefore each combination has large effects on the outcome" - which is great, until the enemy starts getting slingers. Their movement is far too difficult to predict, and unless you're measuring it every time, you don't easily see their range either, so the game changes from very precise positioning, movement and range calculation to set things up just right each time, to plunging your high defence guys forward and hoping for the best. This is also the case with Eyvind; it's too difficult to set everyone up for the diagonal massacre, so whether your enemy slingers oblige or not can make a huge difference (one time I got the lightning chaining through 7 enemies, basically ending the battle).

It's a pity the writing kind of sucks, and the deus ex machina-like Juno character (and the GREAT DARKNESS OOOOH) sucks. In terms of the general thrust of the story and the atmosphere there's some nice bits, and the ending was definitely appreciated.

Nice game, I'll probably get the next chapter/sequel/whatever but not return to this one.

 

[Visperas]

Well, well, after so many battles I had to switch from Hard to Normal...

Spoiler

In the Varl city, I managed to kill the Stonesinger and then another of those double battles. C'mon... The Rook side is much more difficult than the Hakon one but that last double battle to take the bridge down is just too much. I could've rolled with the defeat but I'm getting a bit tired of the combat system. Also, the gap between normal and hard seems too large, in normal I won the second battle, the one against the varl, with my three archers intact. Can anyone tell me what happens if you don't take down the bridge? Does Ubin find you? What does he say? In my playthrough, the Dredge took the city very fast anyway so it was useless, except for the XP.

Spoiler

I played on normal and kept fighting at the bridge in the varl city until it was no longer an option. The last thing I remember is Fasolt(?) or whoever was leading the bridge attacks/defenses died and then iirc that one-armed varl stormed in and told the king to let the bridge be destroyed or else. Does this answer your question?

Spoiler

So, if you fight on the bridge, Iver demmands it is destroyed and then you do the "destroying the bridge" battle? As Oscar asked, anyone simply left and can tell us what happens?

 

[Shadenuat]

Judging only by visuals and sound it's one of the most enthralling games I played in years, but at it's core it simple, I'd say, TOO simple for the amount of money which supposedly went into animation and soundtrack. Surely character system could get more depth from all that dough.
But everything is very polished, combat's basics are alright, and story and lore encouraged me to play. If that's what biodudes can do if you help them escape from their romance dungeon I'm glad they are abandoning the ship, and would glad to see more of them doing that. RUN BIO RUN

...still I'd slap the guy who decided that all the xp for promotions should go to DPSers

 

[Fryjar]

I have to say, I'm enjoying the game quite a bit. The setting is great, and in case of the CYOA elements, it appears to me that they have tried to paint a properly dark picture for the setting, by letting some of the on first sight obvious "right" choices have dire consequences. This element reinforces the feeling that the end times are approaching quite nicely.

Combat is simple but not simplistic imho, and keeps me reasonably entertained. Overall a definitely a good srpg/CYOA hybrid in my book and a good start to 2014.

Edit: How did you guys skill the spearmen like the prince?

 

[Monkeyfinger]

Banner saga is the very definition of a foundational game.

+Rock solid on a technical level
+Innovative systems that are fun to play with
+High quality art and music

-Short
-A small cast of characters and creatures
-Very little effort put into individual battles
-Medicore writer

The strengths are all the kind of thing that can be built on, because they last for as long as your tech and your core team remain the same. The weaknesses are mostly things that can be solved with extra time, with the writer being the only question mark.

The banner saga isn't very good, but it points to a very promising sequel, IMO.

 

[InspectorRumpole]

I have to say, I'm enjoying the game quite a bit. The setting is great, and in case of the CYOA elements, it appears to me that they have tried to paint a properly dark picture for the setting, by letting some of the on first sight obvious "right" choices have dire consequences. This element reinforces the feeling that the end times are approaching quite nicely.

Combat is simple but not simplistic imho, and keeps me reasonably entertained. Overall a definitely a good srpg/CYOA hybrid in my book and a good start to 2014.

Edit: How did you guys skill the spearmen like the prince?

I also think this game should be played on Hard, as it really reinforces the storys' feeling of despair and hopelessness, being constantly starved, having low morale and being injured.
I don't recall playing any other game where i would avoid a battle (and sweet XP) because i was worried about my party.

 

[Severian Silk]

So... how many hours did it take you guys to finish the game?

 

[StaticSpine]

So... how many hours did it take you guys to finish the game?

10-12

 

[jagged-jimmy]

Just finished this - steam says 15 hours.

I don't get the caravan management - because you don't have any options. Events all seem to fuck you up and always steal supplies. So overall the mechanic is kind of pointless. In E:C you could manage your resources on camp and build skills for that. I wonder what happens when all people die while marching?

Sad to hear there are little C&C - because sometimes i wondered. Other times i noticed that the "Answer" was matching anything i could say before in real BIO tradition.

So let's see:
Character system is boring and simple (to few abilities) but VERY balanced and strategic.
Caravan management is a story element only. No options, no skills to build.
Replayability is zero, because who the hell will watch all the marching again and do all the same battles again?
Nice story and stories - writing is pretty good. Kept me hooked, being on the run, etc.

 

[Infinitron]

Just finished this - steam says 15 hours.

I don't get the caravan management - because you don't have any options. Events all seem to fuck you up and always steal supplies. So overall the mechanic is kind of pointless. In E:C you could manage your resources on camp and build skills for that. I wonder what happens when all people die while marching?

Sad to hear there are little C&C - because sometimes i wondered. Other times i noticed that the "Answer" was matching anything i could say before in real BIO tradition.

So let's see:
Character system is boring and simple (to few abilities) but VERY balanced and strategic.
Caravan management is a story element only. No options, no skills to build.
Replayability is zero, because who the hell will watch all the marching again and do all the same battles again?
Nice story and stories - writing is pretty good. Kept me hooked, being on the run, etc.

Thread here: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/the-banner-saga.69595/