So, anyone played? I couldn't find and threads on the game so thought I'd bring it to the groups attention. In lieu of explaining too much (as I launch into a giant, wordy post
) here's a link to the website:
The Banner Saga Here's a gameplay video from YouTube. This is a full video of the first 15 or so minutes of gameplay so there will be spoilers, but it does really give you a feel for what I was trying to explain below about how unique it is. Also, Stoic is working on a the second part, which I think is supposed to be released yet this year. This is just Part 1 and from what I've heard is somewhat short. That said, I really like it so far. As an FYI, the game saves your place as you close, so no going back to an earlier save. So just like in life, once you do something, that's it you are set on your path.
The Banner Saga Gameplay This was a Kickstarter funded game released last year. I had it sitting in my Steam library and finally gave it a go last night. It's a refreshing change from the combat driven button mashers I've been playing. It's basically an old school, story driven, heavy turn-based strategy RPG. Why, I never read more about this I'll never know since that's one of my very favorite styles of gameplay.
It's reminiscent of the early D&D based RPG's with your stats and class determining things like the number of steps a character in your party can take when preparing to attack or the strength and type of attack. Being fully turned based, the game moves as fast as you want it. You move a member of your party and then the foes move a member of their party until either is ready for an attack. Like the early D&D games it's very much like setting up a chess board strategy.
The story is based in Norse mythos and the animations are very unique and remind me of early Disney or if any of you have seen the Rankin-Bass animated version of The Hobbit from the 1970's it has a similar appeal. The development house is here in the states, but there seems to be some occasional language oddities here and there in the dialogue as though translated to English by a non-English speaker. Whether by design or just due to an overlooked translation issue it really doesn't take away from the game other than requiring a little more concentration when reading dialogue.
My disclaimer; I've only been playing this for a short time and as many of you know I tend to be a "glass is half full" kind of person. My "wonderment trigger" is easily pulled when it comes to RPG's so take that to mind when I say I'm currently enjoying the game. To me it's somewhat relaxing because you really have to concentrate on the dialogue because your responses and decisions determine which direction the game will go. The battles also require concentration when positioning your characters along the provided grids. You don't play a single character, rather you move between several, even in dialogues and get varying perspectives of the situations.
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