Basileus777
Member
Nid is the best. An archer with crazy range, puncture, and max stats.
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The Banner Saga |OT| Here come the vikings!
- Thread starter Corto
- Start date
When she appeared I was excited by her abilities but I was afraid to spend much needed renown levelling her mid game. Had I got her sooner it would be on my dream team for sure.
Haunted
Member
I do agree that the turn system can lead to some counterintuitive strategies being necessary. Weakening as many enemies as possible is preferable over finishing them off.
The worst case scenario is basically to have two strong enemies left.
As you said, the notion that not everything is going to go your way no matter how hard you try, that you're just a small cog in these larger machinations that are well beyond your control is a key theme of the game. I also think they're trying to have you "roleplay" more and put yourself into the position of the person you're playing as. When the results are obscured, what do your choices really become about? You say they don't matter, I say they matter because they show what kind of caravan leader you're going to be. I think it's no coincidence that the game has you playing as two characters who are suddenly forced into leadership positions, basically against their will.
It's a different style from, say, the Fallout games or other classicRPGs, which surface a lot more information to the player, but I think each have their merits, and this system fits The Banner Saga quite well.
edit: I hope I'm not being too presumptuous about what Stoic intended to do here, but that's what I took away from it.
The worst case scenario is basically to have two strong enemies left.
I see where you're coming from, but I think they intended something else for the choice system. They're actively trying to prevent you from videogaming and min/maxing your choices. There often is a "best" choice, but it's not being made obvious on purpose.
As you said, the notion that not everything is going to go your way no matter how hard you try, that you're just a small cog in these larger machinations that are well beyond your control is a key theme of the game. I also think they're trying to have you "roleplay" more and put yourself into the position of the person you're playing as. When the results are obscured, what do your choices really become about? You say they don't matter, I say they matter because they show what kind of caravan leader you're going to be. I think it's no coincidence that the game has you playing as two characters who are suddenly forced into leadership positions, basically against their will.
It's a different style from, say, the Fallout games or other classic
edit: I hope I'm not being too presumptuous about what Stoic intended to do here, but that's what I took away from it.
I think I'm fucked, which is a shame because I really enjoyed it right up to the end.
I can get through Bellower phase 1 pretty easily, but phase 2 is just kicking my arse.
Most of the game I've been really unlucky with supplies. No matter what options I picked, I almost always seemed to fail the random events and see "blah blah blah stole supplies". Thanks to that, my guys are quite underleveled going into the end game because I spent so much renown on supplies. I'm rolling with a two 5's and the rest 3's. When
I'm down one of those 5's.
To make things worse, the camp has weak morale, and willpower is really crucial for that fight.
I noticed the patch notes said they buffed chapter 6 renown, but not really up for replaying it.
TBH, the whole renown system is probably the weakest part of the game. Too many mechanics use it, and the game doesn't do a good job of informing you where you should prioritise it. Combined with the very tablet-y UI, I get the impression the developers wanted an easy 'energy' substitute they could monetise when the inevitable iOS port comes out.
I can get through Bellower phase 1 pretty easily, but phase 2 is just kicking my arse.
Most of the game I've been really unlucky with supplies. No matter what options I picked, I almost always seemed to fail the random events and see "blah blah blah stole supplies". Thanks to that, my guys are quite underleveled going into the end game because I spent so much renown on supplies. I'm rolling with a two 5's and the rest 3's. When
Rook dies
To make things worse, the camp has weak morale, and willpower is really crucial for that fight.
I noticed the patch notes said they buffed chapter 6 renown, but not really up for replaying it.
TBH, the whole renown system is probably the weakest part of the game. Too many mechanics use it, and the game doesn't do a good job of informing you where you should prioritise it. Combined with the very tablet-y UI, I get the impression the developers wanted an easy 'energy' substitute they could monetise when the inevitable iOS port comes out.
Last fight is actually really easy if you load up on archers. Alette oneshotted him at level 5 with one hit, even though he had 1 armor and she had like 9 attack or something. (this was 15 damage and I have no idea why) Sometimes it feels like to me that armor reduction matters, and other times it doesnt.
I like the aesthetics of the game, but I don't like the style of the mechanics. If I wanted these mechanics, I'd read a CYOA book. Even then, I'd say "fuck that" and flip back to earlier pages just to not have that happen. Or I'd start over entirely to get the "best" choices. Basically, I don't not powergame everything and I don't like it when I can't.
I like the aesthetics of the game, but I don't like the style of the mechanics. If I wanted these mechanics, I'd read a CYOA book. Even then, I'd say "fuck that" and flip back to earlier pages just to not have that happen. Or I'd start over entirely to get the "best" choices. Basically, I don't not powergame everything and I don't like it when I can't.
Puncture
Tokubetsu
Member
No one? ='(
Haven't had an issues with game speed personally in full screen.
As far as your second point, I wouldn't really worry about people dying in combat. It's bound to happen because the enemy AI will frequently target your weakest characters to finish them off.
And the -3 STR penalty wasn't a huge deal in my experience because I would usually rest in camp for two days afterwards in case a fight quickly came up, though it rarely did. By the time a fight did come up my fighters would all be fully rested. This gets a bit trickier in the final few encounters in the game, but it's otherwise nothing to really worry about.
Note: you don't actually have to rest in camp to renew your wounded party members; it is simply based on the number of days passed even if that comes through normal progression with your caravan. Since you never truly know when a combat encounter may randomly pop up, however, I always opted to rest for 2 days if someone had "died" and pass the third day normally so I'd hit combat with a fully healed party.
Tokubetsu
Member
Managed to fix both issues. The performance thing was apparently some nvidia setting where Power Management Mode was on and set to "Adaptive" instead of "Maximum Performance."
Vigilant Walrus
Member
My review,
I have never been exposed to tactical top town RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics before. This is uncharted territories for me.
I love Vikings and I love fantasy, and someone said this had great writing and a great story. So I was in.
For the first few minutes, I got the feels. More slide shows, and not even with voice acting, I felt I had made a mistake by purchasing a game I had not even properly researched.
On the other hand, jumping into something you know nothing about leads to surprises. To my amazement, combat was not very difficult and very easy to understand. Even without paying much attention I got through it easily.
The art is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. It really is like an interactive storybook more than a movie. I imagine what would happen if you tried to make an Action Adventure game or an action RPG in this style inspired by Eyvind Earle.
It really is the most striking painted landscapes I have seen in my life. I have seen this mans work before, but never caught the name. The game is worth playing to experience the style. That's easily 20 dollars worth.
The music was also wonderful. I've become more and more annoyed with fantasy scores lately, as I feel they often beat the same drums. The Hobbit films being recently examples of games with majestic and larger-than live scores, but simply having become dulled by them treading in the same arenas.
Banner Saga's score is less intrusive and only or two places does it get loud and epic. I liked that.
This was a memorable game. But imagine if they had 100 million dollars to make animated cel cut scenes with 20 frames per second? to make some disney level quality animation film. It would the dream of dreams. The westerns answer to great anime.
There is something unspeakeable beauty hidden in hand drawn animation. You see it here as your characters make their move on this top down combat board. The writing is tight, cohesive and too the point. Exposition is great too. It even avoids the prodigcal fantasy clichee sins.
It takes good stuff from Viking sagas, though a lot of it is very Icelandic. Not that it's a bad thing. Iceland is as close you get to vikings today.
So you got a game with amazing art, great music, tight script, good characters. This sells it. The combat is not the deepest thing in the sea, but you will have to travel along this caravan. Eyvind's art almost brings me to tears. I've found a new favorite artist, and I can't believe he is dead.
I have never been exposed to tactical top town RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics before. This is uncharted territories for me.
I love Vikings and I love fantasy, and someone said this had great writing and a great story. So I was in.
For the first few minutes, I got the feels. More slide shows, and not even with voice acting, I felt I had made a mistake by purchasing a game I had not even properly researched.
On the other hand, jumping into something you know nothing about leads to surprises. To my amazement, combat was not very difficult and very easy to understand. Even without paying much attention I got through it easily.
The art is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. It really is like an interactive storybook more than a movie. I imagine what would happen if you tried to make an Action Adventure game or an action RPG in this style inspired by Eyvind Earle.
It really is the most striking painted landscapes I have seen in my life. I have seen this mans work before, but never caught the name. The game is worth playing to experience the style. That's easily 20 dollars worth.
The music was also wonderful. I've become more and more annoyed with fantasy scores lately, as I feel they often beat the same drums. The Hobbit films being recently examples of games with majestic and larger-than live scores, but simply having become dulled by them treading in the same arenas.
Banner Saga's score is less intrusive and only or two places does it get loud and epic. I liked that.
This was a memorable game. But imagine if they had 100 million dollars to make animated cel cut scenes with 20 frames per second? to make some disney level quality animation film. It would the dream of dreams. The westerns answer to great anime.
There is something unspeakeable beauty hidden in hand drawn animation. You see it here as your characters make their move on this top down combat board. The writing is tight, cohesive and too the point. Exposition is great too. It even avoids the prodigcal fantasy clichee sins.
It takes good stuff from Viking sagas, though a lot of it is very Icelandic. Not that it's a bad thing. Iceland is as close you get to vikings today.
So you got a game with amazing art, great music, tight script, good characters. This sells it. The combat is not the deepest thing in the sea, but you will have to travel along this caravan. Eyvind's art almost brings me to tears. I've found a new favorite artist, and I can't believe he is dead.
xrnzaaas
Member
To be honest I found the game really disappointing (much more than Shadowrun Returns which also is far from perfect). I mean don't get me wrong, the combat system is great and the setting is superb, but the rest is just mediocre and there's tons of stuff missing.
I think what annoyed me the most is that almost all events are only described using text. They're not shown on screen and I'm talking about the important ones like somebody dying or people leaving the caravan. C'mon, even oldschool RPG's like Baldur's Gate didn't have that and if somebody died you had a chance to see that for yourself (even if it was about following a bunch of pixels and using your imagination).
Another annoying thing is that much like Shadowrun Returns the game has a linear progression. You can't do any side quests, you can't go sightseeing etc. At least we've got some choices, but only a few of them lead to very different endings which affect the story in a major way.
I can understand that an indie game can't afford dubbing, but they should at least make more cutscenes (I counted only two or three in the entire game). And one last thing - character development is basically a joke... there's a cap at lvl5? Seriously? Plus only two predefined skills for each character? Well, at least most of them are useful during combat.
If it were up to me I'd wait for the entire saga (is it going to be 2 or 3 parts?) and then consider playing it, because the "first episode" is way too short (about 10-12 hours on hard) and it leaves you wanting to find out what happened next. Plus even though there are some non-linear moments it doesn't have a big replay value imo.
I think what annoyed me the most is that almost all events are only described using text. They're not shown on screen and I'm talking about the important ones like somebody dying or people leaving the caravan. C'mon, even oldschool RPG's like Baldur's Gate didn't have that and if somebody died you had a chance to see that for yourself (even if it was about following a bunch of pixels and using your imagination).
Another annoying thing is that much like Shadowrun Returns the game has a linear progression. You can't do any side quests, you can't go sightseeing etc. At least we've got some choices, but only a few of them lead to very different endings which affect the story in a major way.
I can understand that an indie game can't afford dubbing, but they should at least make more cutscenes (I counted only two or three in the entire game). And one last thing - character development is basically a joke... there's a cap at lvl5? Seriously? Plus only two predefined skills for each character? Well, at least most of them are useful during combat.
If it were up to me I'd wait for the entire saga (is it going to be 2 or 3 parts?) and then consider playing it, because the "first episode" is way too short (about 10-12 hours on hard) and it leaves you wanting to find out what happened next. Plus even though there are some non-linear moments it doesn't have a big replay value imo.
Kadayi
Banned
Anyone managed to beat it on hard and not lose a battle?
I've managed most of the achievements so far, but master tactician & challenge presently elude me.
http://steamcommunity.com/stats/237990/achievements/
You're so starved for renown in hard it seems nigh on impossible to spend points leveling up to max on a couple of characters without screwing yourself over by under powering the rest of your heroes.
I figure the window of opportunity to get master tactician is just before you arrive at Boersgard given you should have Eyvind & Sigbjorn (the mead Varl) in your party who are already maxxed, and hopefully Gunnulf (assuming he isn't dead) should be at least level 4 or 5 as well, but I never seem to have enough points free to level up fully any of Rooks people. Generally Rook & Oddleif are my high level characters from that group, but I always seem to find myself holding back promotions due to lack of points because half the time I'm having to spend them on supplies to keep the train fed and morale up.
Any strats to get those last two cheves would be appreciated (restarting chapters is tedious).
I've managed most of the achievements so far, but master tactician & challenge presently elude me.
http://steamcommunity.com/stats/237990/achievements/
You're so starved for renown in hard it seems nigh on impossible to spend points leveling up to max on a couple of characters without screwing yourself over by under powering the rest of your heroes.
I figure the window of opportunity to get master tactician is just before you arrive at Boersgard given you should have Eyvind & Sigbjorn (the mead Varl) in your party who are already maxxed, and hopefully Gunnulf (assuming he isn't dead) should be at least level 4 or 5 as well, but I never seem to have enough points free to level up fully any of Rooks people. Generally Rook & Oddleif are my high level characters from that group, but I always seem to find myself holding back promotions due to lack of points because half the time I'm having to spend them on supplies to keep the train fed and morale up.
Any strats to get those last two cheves would be appreciated (restarting chapters is tedious).
Master Tactician can be done on an Easy playthrough. I got it at the point you mentioned (right after getting Sigbjorn) by camping right away and changing the difficulty to Hard. I did this before the patch, though, so it's possible that they've changed it, but I doubt it.
For the Challenge achievement, just prioritize leveling your guys over buying supplies. If you can spare some renown for supplies, only do so when a market is selling 4+ supplies per 1 renown. Also make sure you're evenly distributing kills to each character you want to level up. It's very easy to let Gunnulf kill everything, but don't use him unless you have to; he doesn't even need to be level 5 -- once you max his strength and exertion, he pretty much meets his maximum potential, so you can use that renown elsewhere. Avoid letting any of your damage-dealers (dudes with high strength or archers with puncture) die in battle, as those injuries obviously cripple their strength; sacrifice your high armor and shield breaker dudes instead. In War, don't "Kill more as they flee" unless you're desperate for the renown. I've had many instances where the game will spawn a second group of enemies that's quite a bit stronger than the first group, so it's very risky to go for round two. To squeeze some extra renown out of each (dredge) battle, let the big axe dredge dudes spawn another unit before killing them. I would recommend putting Rook and Alette on your main team, since you're forced to use them in the final battle anyway; both are pretty good, so this isn't a big deal.
Characters, Cities, and Items spoilers:
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Don't let poor little Gunnulf die. Tell him to let go of the cart every time. That event is essentially "Do you want Gunnulf in your party or not."
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Don't take Onef unless you let Egil die in the very beginning. I think Egil is more useful than Onef and Ekkil, so I would recommend keeping him alive.
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There's a really good gold coin item at Frostveller that can be gotten by leaving the town as soon as you get through the walls. I don't remember exactly how to do it, so this tip is probably useless, but it involved making Iver lift up a body despite his protests. Pretty sure this happens right outside Frostveller, but I don't really remember.
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Griss: challenge him to a fight. When he approaches you again, tell him he has one chance. Griss is a great tank/shieldbreaker.
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You basically want to inspect every godstone. This is how you get Farthingjord, which I think is the best item in the game.
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Crazy people at a godstone offer you the option to put boiling liquid on your body. Do it.
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Five Gold Necklace: this is at a godstone; inspect the godstone/bodies and take the necklace for yourself. Really good item.
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Puzzle Box: another godstone item. Attempt to open the puzzle box, then choose the option to get some rest. Great willpower item for Alette or Eyvind.
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Krumr: when he wants to leave the caravan and take a bunch of varl with him to fight some dredge, let him. He brings back 20 renown and a level 5 item. Also, in the varl bridge city (whatever it's called) don't pick the option to leave right away, as Krumr will abandon your caravan. Additionally, if you choose to fight on the bridge three (?) times in a row, Fasolt will die.
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Let the quirky old man join your caravan (randomish event).
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Sigbjorn: help the varl who is being attacked by dredge. Also, take his item away from him as soon as you can -- he will disappear with whatever item is on him once you reach Boersgard.
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In Boersgard, first find a source of supplies by speaking to the Ravens and then trading Sigbjorn's mead to them. Then find a place for the caravan to stay by looking for abandoned houses and then improving their defenses. Then fight on the walls until Juno shows up; if you have a lot of injuries, put Krumr in charge for a day. I'm pretty sure I entered Boersgard with normal or low morale, and this was how I ended up with great morale for the final battle, though I might have switched the order of the first and second things. Not sure if that matters or not.
Kadayi
Banned
Yeah I pondered whether it could be done by cheesing the in game difficulty changes but I figured as its the training tent it shouldn't be that troublesome to do it within a difficult game itself as there's no actual impact on true health.
I make the effort to spread the kills as much as possible and I try and avoid using characters once they hit the 14 versus giving the other guys a shot. Works great for the Varl team tbh, On easy/normal I'll do the "Kill more as they flee" thing, but yeah it's too risky on high, vs letting the big dudes call in the odd extra.
I think the biggest thing I need to do is just work on Rooks team more. Get him & Alette leveled up as much as possible. I've think my blind spot has probably been in not using her all the time due to her aversion for fighting people, but as I already have that cheve I guess she's going to have to nut up and get used to shooting dudes in the face.
Also I figure that regardless of how many supplies you have on you when you enter Frostvellr because you then revert back to the Varl team it just leaves you a set amount at the beginning for the return chapter in which case that's a saving of some renown right there that could be better spent elsewhere.
Nothing spoiled there (at least for me).
Yeah I've gotten the coin before. You have to fight 3 times in a row without resting to get it (initial fight at the chapter start, plus two further fights) which is no mean feat on hard. However fighting Dredge is preferable to humans given the shield wall attrition factor so I'll look at concentrating on that.
Getting Krumr to come to Boersgard is probably the thing I need to focus on tbh. My approach last time was to let Hakon etc fight initially on the bridge then have Rooks team battle day one, but of course I then realised that if I helped the wounded Egil would die so I had to abandon the plan. I figure next time I'll do the initial fight, then help the wounded day one which should rest my wounded and battle day two and three (if necessary ..I can't recall) instead.
With hard I've tended to focus my initial points on defense and shield break versus exertion and strength (though a lot depends on the type of character). What's your approach?
Keep doing that with your tank characters (Iver, Mogr, Griss, Fasolt). Prioritize armor break on those dudes, then armor and exertion. Dropping strength points into dedicated tanks is a waste. Likewise, putting armor break on a character like Gunnulf is also a waste. I think armor break is the most important stat -- you want at least half your team to have high armor and/or armor break; then fill in the rest of the team with high-damage characters. The best tanks can do 3 - 4 base armor break damage. I usually send them out first to soak up hits while withering down enemy armor. Then the high-damage/glass cannon characters roll in with their max (or almost max) strength and max exertion to wreak havoc on anything that has had its armor knocked away.
The glass cannons are typically either archers or Gunnulf. Gunnulf has the highest strength of any character at 18, and he will cut through anything that has been weakened by the shieldbreakers. There are some other melee characters than can also reach pretty high strength, like Hakon, but I think Gunnulf is the best because of his Tempest ability. The trick to using Gunnulf is to only use him when it's safe to do so, as his armor stat is only around 7. Be careful with him, especially around slingers -- he is a delicate flower. Your archers can also do a ton of damage with their Puncture passive after the shieldbreakers have had their way with the enemies. Some archers have pretty high armor break and exertion stats though, so it's really up to you in how you spec the archers.
I like to use Mogr and Griss as shieldbreakers on the varl team, and Gunnulf (of course) as the cannon. The rest of the team is just "help". I typically don't use Hakon, but his stats are really good and can therefore be spec'd however you need him to be. When I do use him, I'm not afraid to sacrifice him for the greater good. Rook's team is trickier, as you've noted. Egil is surprisingly decent as a tank, especially because of his ability, so I put him first in my turn order and max his armor; it's also helpful to put a +aggro item on him since you want enemies to hit him when he's using Stone Wall. Iver is the other tank on this team, and is really great before the incident, but still decent afterwards; I max his armor break first, then his armor. Rook can go either way, but I typically put him on armor break duty since he doesn't have puncture. I also favor armor over strength on him because he's decent up at the front lines with Light Foot and Mark Prey. I always make Alette a killer because her father knows what's best for her. I forgot to mention in my previous post to side with Mogun and Hogun so they join your team. I typically only use the one with the scar (Hogun I think) since his strength stat is higher than his brother's. I use him to mop up kills, but I will always sacrifice him before an archer because his ability is good even when he's injured. Nid was my preferred archer because she had max stats before the patch, but now that that's fixed, she's probably not the best option because getting her to level 5 before Boersgard is pretty tough. Oddleif is probably the better choice, but Yrsa is also an option.
I love everything I've heard till now about this game, but I haven't played it yet.
Any idea if it will run on my Thinkpad E330?
Seems like the perfect game I'd play when I'm away.
Any idea if it will run on my Thinkpad E330?
Seems like the perfect game I'd play when I'm away.
I don't think I'm playing this game right. I get through most fights fine but it feels messy. I don't have the clean runs and set-ups that I enjoyed pulling off in X-Com: Enemy Unknown at least.
Any tips? Should I let enemies with low HP live so that they waste a turn? Also, I'm slowly realising that having my archer go first in battle order doesn't help much, as they'll usually get killed after you move them into position. Constantly have them standing behind dudes now at least.
I keep expecting to be more manoeuvrable than I am. Forget that I can't switch positions as fast as other games.
Also kinda frustrated that I can't get my guys to pull off their spacial abilities well - The knock back and through enemies for damage, and the spear push etc. Seem hard to set up as positioning is so slow.
Any tips? Should I let enemies with low HP live so that they waste a turn? Also, I'm slowly realising that having my archer go first in battle order doesn't help much, as they'll usually get killed after you move them into position. Constantly have them standing behind dudes now at least.
I keep expecting to be more manoeuvrable than I am. Forget that I can't switch positions as fast as other games.
Also kinda frustrated that I can't get my guys to pull off their spacial abilities well - The knock back and through enemies for damage, and the spear push etc. Seem hard to set up as positioning is so slow.
Kadayi
Banned
Cool advice dude. I think I've tended to just let the Varl roll, but I probably do need to be more circumspect in terms of how to play them. It hadn't really occurred to me to not play Hakon, but I can see why there might be more benefit in swapping him out for someone else Versus always playing him if fit.
With Rooks team I'm a bit more formation orientated with Egil & Iver at the front, Tryggvi behind Egil (love that goddamn spear) and then Alette, Oddlief & Rook behind. That way both Tryggvi & Rook can defend the sides and come around as necessary to deliver assistance to Iver if required.
Yeah I always pick up the brothers although I only use them when someone else is injured tbh. Nid I've played with a bit, you get her so late in the game that it's hard to make much headway with her. I like Oddliefs special because it halts an advance which is great given normally Rook & Alette are next in the queue and like you I use Rook to pulverize armour (Farthingjord FTW). I do find Ysra pretty damn useful with her special attack, but I haven't so far used her in the final battle.
I think what I'll go is a normal run looking to maximise and then give hard no losses another shot. I did pretty well up until I reached Boersgard but then ended up having to fight with a bunch of badly injured heroes on the third day or so and that totally undid me.
Kadayi
Banned
Definitely put the archers last in the sequence and always ensure they stay behind a more desirable target if you can. If you're holding a position and not moving you'll also find that Alette, Oddlief etc benefit from standing still a round.
Great news.
I think I'm somewhere around halfway or more done with the game. I've just started 'Chapter 4' and returned to the group in the east. Really enjoying the game so far, but I got tired of fighting Dredge.
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
Man this game gets kind of relentless with the shit that can happen to you due to bad decisions. I have stopped playing multiple times now because of how depressing some events were due to choices I made hours ago.
Kadayi
Banned
Goddamn it.
Won every battle on hard and beat the boss but no cheve.....
Did you change the difficulty to Hard before or after clicking "Restart Game"? I don't actually know if that affects the Hard Difficulty and Challenge achievements, but I feel like it might. Either way, that sucks.
I finished my Hard/No-loss playthrough today and here's another tip for everyone: fuck Fasolt. I never used him on my previous playthroughs, but decided to use him this time. That dude might have a 19 armor rating and a fairly useful ability, but he jumps between teams, he can die, and if you prevent his death, he'll leave your party with whatever item you left on him. Motherfucker stole my Farthingjord. If I hadn't bought two Worldhooks (+2 armor break item), the last third of the game would have been a huge pain in the ass.
Kadayi
Banned
Pretty sure I did it before, but either way I've sent Stoic my saves and log files. Let them sort it out.
I might wipe and try again. Though in truth I'm kind of bummed as pretty much everything went perfect on that run, and I even managed to destroy the bridge as well which was a nuts idea tbh.
The final fight kept bugging for me as well with Alette unable to shoot Bellower even though he had fuck all armour and still requiring spare willpower (even though they said they fixed that...)
Ouch.
I find he's quite handy in terms of building him up a bit so he can assist Rooks team as a tank but yeah you don't want to be leaving items on him that's for sure. I make it my rule to unequip items from anyone who isn't a dead cert to make it to Boersgard tbh.
Really liked the game until the last fights. Made me want to smash my screen. If I replay it, I know which characters to develop. Most of my higher leveled characters abandoned me in one way or another.
Graphics and music were great. Decent story and gameplay. I hope that the next game doesn't have such a difficulty spike at the end. Or at least let the player grind renown somehow.
Graphics and music were great. Decent story and gameplay. I hope that the next game doesn't have such a difficulty spike at the end. Or at least let the player grind renown somehow.
So I've just arrived in Boersgard after 151 days. I've got a mix of level 4 and 5 warriors (Rook is 3 but I'll be upgrading him). Morale is normal, supplies for a couple days. I suppose I'm rather close to the end of the game, so I guess I'm going to spend the rest of my 51 renown on promotions, as it doesn't seem like buying supplies is worth it at this point, unless I want to rest a couple days and build up my morale to help boost willpower in the final battles.
If I spend 15 renown on Rook, I can only promote one level 4 to level 5 (costs 20 renown). Or, I can promote two level 4 warriors to level 5 and have 11 renown leftover. If there will be another opportunity after a battle I could promote Rook then. I feel pretty solid going into the endgame, but from what I've read it's a beast.
I've spent about 10 hours total playing, and I feel like I've totally gotten my money's worth from backing the KS. I've played on normal the whole way and haven't had too much difficulty or lost any battles. I fled from a battle just once as my morale was low and the game said I was outnumbered, but otherwise I've charged them every time (and stuck around for the second battles).
I've loved playing this game. The art is beautiful, the music is lovely, and of course the battles are tons of fun. I would have liked more battles against non-Dredge opponents (I was used to it from playing Factions last year), and there were a couple moments during the middle portions of the game in which I went quite awhile without any battles. Otherwise, the pacing and balance of battles and travel/dialogues/decisions has been pretty good.
If I spend 15 renown on Rook, I can only promote one level 4 to level 5 (costs 20 renown). Or, I can promote two level 4 warriors to level 5 and have 11 renown leftover. If there will be another opportunity after a battle I could promote Rook then. I feel pretty solid going into the endgame, but from what I've read it's a beast.
I've spent about 10 hours total playing, and I feel like I've totally gotten my money's worth from backing the KS. I've played on normal the whole way and haven't had too much difficulty or lost any battles. I fled from a battle just once as my morale was low and the game said I was outnumbered, but otherwise I've charged them every time (and stuck around for the second battles).
I've loved playing this game. The art is beautiful, the music is lovely, and of course the battles are tons of fun. I would have liked more battles against non-Dredge opponents (I was used to it from playing Factions last year), and there were a couple moments during the middle portions of the game in which I went quite awhile without any battles. Otherwise, the pacing and balance of battles and travel/dialogues/decisions has been pretty good.
This game, this fucking game.
So beautiful, the music gave me the chills each time it appeared, each Godstone was a thing of wonder. The world was amazing, the characters fantastic and the decision system was really good, lot of options, lot of alternatives and never sure what is the best one or the possible consequences of them, I tried to be good and fair, sometimes I got rewarded, others I got punished, it felt really rewarding.
It´s amazing how much personality can show some semi static characters and good dialogue, amazing. All the MILLIONS companies spend on animation and voicecasting when this has more interesting and credible characters that many games with 200 developers and whatever millions. I understand that for many people static images and text just don't work at the same level, but it´s really a shame.
The combat was fine for my taste, I tend to prefer games with lot of options for every characters and interesting progression, so it wasn't my favourite part here, but it worked well enough. That last combat was hard as nuts indeed, but I got a nice tactic with two tanks, two archers and two heavy hitters. When I finally did it I raised my fist.
And that ending, oh my god.
So happy and so proud of having backed this.
So beautiful, the music gave me the chills each time it appeared, each Godstone was a thing of wonder. The world was amazing, the characters fantastic and the decision system was really good, lot of options, lot of alternatives and never sure what is the best one or the possible consequences of them, I tried to be good and fair, sometimes I got rewarded, others I got punished, it felt really rewarding.
It´s amazing how much personality can show some semi static characters and good dialogue, amazing. All the MILLIONS companies spend on animation and voicecasting when this has more interesting and credible characters that many games with 200 developers and whatever millions. I understand that for many people static images and text just don't work at the same level, but it´s really a shame.
The combat was fine for my taste, I tend to prefer games with lot of options for every characters and interesting progression, so it wasn't my favourite part here, but it worked well enough. That last combat was hard as nuts indeed, but I got a nice tactic with two tanks, two archers and two heavy hitters. When I finally did it I raised my fist.
And that ending, oh my god.
I don't know what was thinking letting Alette do it, I thought it was an insult to her not letting do it but for god's sake, I feel like shit
So happy and so proud of having backed this.
I can't really add much more than what others have said. I love this game.
It took me two tries to win the final fight. I basically learned to
I played the entire game on normal difficulty. Didn't have too many problems. I think I was fortunate to make good decisions with my players, focusing on upgrading them and keeping morale afloat with supplies and moderate rest.
I went into the final battle with Iver (5), Rook (5), Mogr (5), Hakon (4), Tryggvi (5), and Alette (5). Left out Gunnalf (5), Eirik (4), and Oddlief (4). It worked out well to basically use the same characters in all battles for each respective storyline, and focus on upgrading them as much as possible vs. having a bunch of level 4 and 3 warriors.
As for the ending, I chose to
.
It took me two tries to win the final fight. I basically learned to
maim the other Dredge who had high strength and could hurt my warriors, and ignore the rest while focusing on Bellower.
I played the entire game on normal difficulty. Didn't have too many problems. I think I was fortunate to make good decisions with my players, focusing on upgrading them and keeping morale afloat with supplies and moderate rest.
I went into the final battle with Iver (5), Rook (5), Mogr (5), Hakon (4), Tryggvi (5), and Alette (5). Left out Gunnalf (5), Eirik (4), and Oddlief (4). It worked out well to basically use the same characters in all battles for each respective storyline, and focus on upgrading them as much as possible vs. having a bunch of level 4 and 3 warriors.
As for the ending, I chose to
give the silver arrow to Alette. I should have known it would result in her death. Fittingly, I defeated in Bellower during the second part of the battle with an arrow from Rook. Mild retribution for him. Still, poor Alette. :/
Sir_Crocodile
Member
If part 2 uses a kickstarter I certainly won't be backing. It's been a month since release and gog codes still haven't been sent out yet
HellBlazer
Member
Access to the DRM-free version was sent out today, quit your whining.
Also from today's update:
Yea seriously. I knew it was coming and didn't bother trying to prevent it throughout the game's dialogues, but still...that bastard.
Saw the warnings, got told about it. Still didn't stop me from closing the game right there because of the sheer... effect. Every additional dialogue click was an extra "fuck you", which I mean in a positive way.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Welp, now I know not to do that endgame thing. Thanks, Donut Homer!
Hey guys just got Banner Saga yesterday and have been getting a really bad bug every time a cutscene video plays. here's a screenshot of what it looks like when it's at its worst but by just reloading it a bunch of times changing between the few settings there are it minimized the green distortion but it was still there. Anyone know what causes this or how to potentially fix it?
Shake Appeal
Member
I finally went back to this after enjoying it but getting frustrated by what I thought was the sudden difficulty in chapter 5.
In the last three days I've completed it end to end twice. It's incredible, and I hope they get to build on it more.
In the last three days I've completed it end to end twice. It's incredible, and I hope they get to build on it more.
I'm playing chapter 6 and my whole caravan is starving to death, not many left. Am I doing something wrong? there is no end to this chapter seemingly and no supplies anywhere, I feel I'm doing something wrong but dunno what :\ feels terrible and things just get worse and worse. This game is so depressing.
I think I let too many people in, and wrong people at that :| can you actually game over?
I think I let too many people in, and wrong people at that :| can you actually game over?
1. You can't game over. Losing your followers means nothing. It won't change the ending and you won't even get any notifications about it. All that matters are your heroes.
2. That chapter is poorly designed in my opinion. It purposely takes your food away via events and an increasingly bloated army size, sells you way overpriced food, and thus encourages you to spend all your resources on your followers. That means you can't level up your heroes or buy items if you try to save your followers.
The devs were trying to tell a story through gameplay, the starving struggling army on its last steps, but it feels cheap, especially because it deviates from the lessons the game teaches you at the beginning: spend evenly on all 3 (food, items, heroes), gain resources and food through events, etc.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
You monster.
Actually, when war happens, size does matter. Wars only happen like, 4 times, though.
Shake Appeal
Member
Yeah, I lost a lot of people the first time I played Chapter 6. The supplies are available to not lose anyone, but it does mean burning renown that you could be using on promotions, so unless you aggressively promoted the "right" heroes earlier in the game (i.e. the ones who survive and can be used in the endgame), it weakens you for the actual battles.
beat it, the final fight was such a pain.
possible spoilers within
what I didn't like
- Battles: You spend most of the game using just archers, varl and fighters though there are minor differences between them you don't get a mender until like almost the end of the game. I think they could do a lot better with variety of enemies and your own heroes and overall pacing of the combat, it's a lot of the same for the most the game then the last two chapters actually get interesting.
- Maps are all just boxes, no unique ground features or anything. It's like a chessboard.
- I'm not the biggest fan of the more you kill the more advantage the enemy has, this is what the last fight is all about. Choosing which character to move freely and phase based combat is what I'm used to in strategy games, so this didn't make much sense to me. You just have to lower everyone to 1 STR and then finish them off one by one, specially by those you want to promote. this brings up another thing, promotions are based on kills only and nothing else.
Overall I'd have preferred if this was just a Fire Emblem copy in battles but it was still alright and I got used to it. I think they should do something about the maps in the next game, though I'm not sure how well that would go with current battle system.
----
what I don't know about:
Caravan meta game: It did sting to have one character you've spent a lot on and promoted is just easily killed off by the text adventure thing, and gone forever like that. But then again the game is supposed to be like that, to sting. I prefer perma death during combat over something like that, I think I have more control like that and I wouldn't spent resources on somebody that isn't going to make it or doesn't matter at all, the wrong characters. Throughout the choices that seem to be right are hardly ever right, nothing goes well ever. It's a bit much. Usually fighting seems to end in better results than avoiding it.
I enjoyed the meta game though you'll realize how all the smoke and mirrors work after a while and what matters and what doesn't, it was decent.
---
what I liked:
- Visuals: If the game didn't look this pretty and colorful, considering how depressing it can be, it would have been hard to keep going. Looks really great and animates as well.
- Music.
- Story seems intriguing so far but this game felt like the beginning chapter it is, it's just getting started. Hopefully the sequel is made.
Overall, each aspect of the game might not be all that great, but when added up together it makes for a good and compelling game.
possible spoilers within
what I didn't like
- Battles: You spend most of the game using just archers, varl and fighters though there are minor differences between them you don't get a mender until like almost the end of the game. I think they could do a lot better with variety of enemies and your own heroes and overall pacing of the combat, it's a lot of the same for the most the game then the last two chapters actually get interesting.
- Maps are all just boxes, no unique ground features or anything. It's like a chessboard.
- I'm not the biggest fan of the more you kill the more advantage the enemy has, this is what the last fight is all about. Choosing which character to move freely and phase based combat is what I'm used to in strategy games, so this didn't make much sense to me. You just have to lower everyone to 1 STR and then finish them off one by one, specially by those you want to promote. this brings up another thing, promotions are based on kills only and nothing else.
Overall I'd have preferred if this was just a Fire Emblem copy in battles but it was still alright and I got used to it. I think they should do something about the maps in the next game, though I'm not sure how well that would go with current battle system.
----
what I don't know about:
Caravan meta game: It did sting to have one character you've spent a lot on and promoted is just easily killed off by the text adventure thing, and gone forever like that. But then again the game is supposed to be like that, to sting. I prefer perma death during combat over something like that, I think I have more control like that and I wouldn't spent resources on somebody that isn't going to make it or doesn't matter at all, the wrong characters. Throughout the choices that seem to be right are hardly ever right, nothing goes well ever. It's a bit much. Usually fighting seems to end in better results than avoiding it.
I enjoyed the meta game though you'll realize how all the smoke and mirrors work after a while and what matters and what doesn't, it was decent.
---
what I liked:
- Visuals: If the game didn't look this pretty and colorful, considering how depressing it can be, it would have been hard to keep going. Looks really great and animates as well.
- Music.
- Story seems intriguing so far but this game felt like the beginning chapter it is, it's just getting started. Hopefully the sequel is made.
Overall, each aspect of the game might not be all that great, but when added up together it makes for a good and compelling game.
TechnicPuppet
Nothing! I said nothing!
Just got an email from steam, game is on sale for £12.
I loved fire emblem, should I buy this?
I loved fire emblem, should I buy this?
To me, it doesn't really play like Fire Emblem. I still really enjoyed the game.
Tactical battles that take place on plain fields. You need to attack both armor and vitality. Vitality is both health and attack power. Lowering someone's armor means you can deal more damage to vitality.
There is also a type of text adventure mode while your caravan travels. You need to make different decisions during your travels that will affect your caravan.