- Spoiler: show
- 02/01: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES Classic]
04/01: Oxenfree [Switch]
13/01: Axiom Verge: Multiverse Edition [Switch]
14/01: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Switch]
15/01: Super Mario World [SNES Classic]
20/01: BioShock Infinite [360]
23/01: The Fall [PSN]
26/01: Celeste [Switch]
31/01: Super One More Jump [Switch]
05/02: Night in the Woods [Switch]
08/02: Dandara [Switch]
14/02: Dragon Quest Builders [Switch]
20/02: Bayonetta [Switch]
21/02: Puzzle Puppers [Switch]
23/02: Fe [Switch]
24/02: Old Man's Journey [Switch]
26/02: Portal Knights [Switch]
28/02: Bayonetta 2 [Switch]
07/03: Subsurface Circular [Switch]
14/03: Coffin Dodgers [Switch]
15/03: OPUS: The Day We Found Earth [Switch]
18/03: Tesla vs. Lovecraft [Switch]
22/03: Fear Effect Sedna [Switch]
23/03: Destiny 2 [PS4]
31/03: Devious Dungeon [Switch]
31/03: Warp Shift [Switch]
01/04: Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap [Switch]
02/04: Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder Devastated [Switch]
09/04: Attack on Titan 2 [Switch]
11/04: The Bunker [Switch]
14/04: Streets of Red: Devil's Dare Deluxe [Switch]
16/04: Slayaway Camp: Butcher's Cut [Switch]
18/04: L.A. Noire [Switch]
23/04: Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition [Switch]
01/05: Saturday Morning RPG [Switch]
05/05: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze [Switch]
06/05: God of War (2018) [PS4]
13/05: Secret of Mana (2018) [PS4]
15/05: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle [Switch]
19/05: Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition [Switch]
22/05: Shadow of the Colossus (2018) [PS4]
25/05: Runner3 [Switch]
30/05: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Gold Edition [PS4]
06/06: PixelJunk Monsters 2 [Switch]
09/06: Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn [Switch]
13/06: The Banner Saga [Switch]
I don't get on well with RPGs that make me allocate stat points myself because I always do it "wrong." The function and usefulness of individual stats are frequently opaque and while many RPGs are forgiving enough that I can muddle through even with a poorly-built character, some will punish me severely for not understanding that the way I chose to build my character wasn't really viable for the combat systems I'm required to participate in. Such was my experience with The Banner Saga, where on my first attempt I so thoroughly botched my stat allocation I had to start over from scratch as battles quickly became insurmountable, even on Easy difficulty. I'd run into a similar situation in Mario + Rabbids, but luckily that game lets you reassign stat points at any time; no such luck with The Banner Saga. My only choice was to start the whole videogame over again from the beginning. But I'd heard good things about The Banner Saga and my fellow Switch Focus podcasters love the series, so I was determined to give it a second chance. In attempt #2, I made it further but started to run into the same problems late in the plot. I was informed by a person watching my livestream that I had, once again, developed my characters poorly.
All of this is unhelped by how numbingly boring the combat in The Banner Saga is. It's a strategy RPG typified by completely barren and flat level design; I can recall exactly one map that had meaningful terrain obstacles. Characters have both an Armor and a Strength rating; Strength functions as HP and is more difficult to lower until Armor is also lowered, but also determines physical strength. A character near-death is functionally useless and may as well be actually dead, and there is no way to heal them in combat. The systems that govern these two stats are byzantine and arcane; sometimes my characters would deal a lot of strength damage to a unit with full armor, and other enemies require their armor to be taken down before their strength could be damaged. Combat is slow, the interface is often muddled and difficult to read, it's not particularly interesting to look at, and has little variety in skills to mix up strategy. The later parts of the game are dragged down by frequent skirmishes with bandits that only add padding to the already plodding plot, and by the final two chapters I was deliberately avoiding combat whenever possible because I just couldn't take it anymore.
But most of The Banner Saga is spent watching your party's caravan creep across a stunningly drawn landscape, interrupted periodically by story sequences portrayed by terse, laconic narration and dialog. Of the two parties I followed, I liked Rook's the most as they had a lot of personality and I was easily swept up in their journey as they were forced to flee their home when an invading army of Dredge suddenly appear from the north. The other party The Banner Saga follows consist of a race called the Varls; I had far less attachment to them as I struggled to tell most of them apart and their presence in the story evaporates after chapter 3. This caravan mechanic feels like The Oregon Trail meets Dungeons and Dragons, balancing resource management with some light multiple-choice narrative mechanics. Like the combat it is slow, but more gently paced, and though some of the twists and betrayals feel artificial and easy to see what the other possibility would be had you made a different choice earlier in the plot, it kept me engaged much more than the combat ever did. We've seen some story-heavy RPGs recently which excise the combat to keep the player in the story, and I'd be far more enamored with The Banner Saga were this option present.
The Banner Saga clearly tells just the first act of a three part story, and I tempered my bitter disappointment with its first installment by setting an ultimatum: "If I reach the end of this game and I decide I don't care what happens next, I'm not going to play part two or three."
Last night, after dropping the difficulty down to Easy so I could slog through the last two chapters, I finished the first entry in The Banner Saga.
I won't be playing parts two or three.