 Hello everyone, my name is Philip Magnus and today I'm going to make a rubbish review of the Banner Saga. Why? Because I love that game to bits and I'm waiting, actually I just can't wait, I'm being melted from the inside with anticipation about its sequel, which is coming out on the 19th of April, which might very well be today, depending on when I have posted that video. I'm just so hungry for that world that I couldn't leave well enough alone. I had to play the Banner Saga again, both to remind myself of this epic tale and to actually finish the last and only boss battle. Once I got into playing, you know what happens? I had to record it. I had to make a video talking about it. There you go, this. So what is the Banner Saga anyway? Let's start off with races, eh? First we've got normal puny humans, just like us, only less 3D and way more animated. They come in three varieties, man, woman and something called child. There has been, well, mention of these stealing supplies and or starving to death, but none have actually been spotted. Then we've got the Vall. They come in male only, but with many collared beards and clothes. It's quite beautiful, really. The Vall are a species of giant warriors, an entire race of epic vikings with giant axes, great swords and shields far bigger than your average human male or female, unless she's of anyway. Last but not least, we've got the Dredge. I say that they are the bad guys of the story, but that's kind of racist. I mean, sure, the Dredger constantly trying to kill every single soul in the Caravan. Share their attack by the dozen, and constantly, but then again, so do humans. All I'm asking is for you to keep an open mind. The Dredge come in several sizes, small, large and the bellower special, super XXL, red as blood outfit. The Dredge were created, in fact, by the gods, in order to stop the Varl and human from fighting one another, unifying them against a common threat, you know the tale, an enemy both deadly and more than willing to murder everyone in their way. But that was then, this is now. Let's not hold grudges. Anyway, I heard war is brewing, a great serpent has awakened, and the mysterious darkness is coming from the North, scary enough to spook the Dredge into running away from their halls, attacking human and Varl settlements alike, jumpstarting the events of the game and beginning the third great war between the Varl human alliance and themselves. It's quite really exciting, yeah. Anyway, in my opinion, the poor innocent Dredge are trying to just live by in a world filled with small and jammed people, intent on murdering them. I feel horribly sorry for them, truly. Oh, the humanity. Let's get down to the specifics though, main characters include but are not limited to Ruk, a killer ready to murder his way through every village town and city, just to make sure his daughter is safe of, well, anyone who wants to do her harm really. I respect Ruk, he doesn't discriminate between Dredge, Varl and human, he's willing to put an arrow or an axe through anyone. Also, he has the weirdest expressions sometimes and the most glorious of red cloaks. Then there is Alette, she is in fact Ruk's daughter and she doesn't like killing people, which makes her racist or human or humane or something along the lines, I suppose. Anyway, she's the closest thing that comes to a child, I think I wouldn't know, I've never been good at recognizing those. Let's move on, shall we? Next up, there's Ivar, a Varro whose friends and almost family with the two and has quite the mysterious past. But mysterious as his past may be, it does not answer the mystery of who actually taught him to braid his beard and hair. They are both quite epic, I'll show you, and very, very blonde, which doesn't really tell us much about his intelligence, so don't judge, please. Another Varro, Haken, is the Kendr, which roughly equilates to Prince, meaning he'll one day be king, as you might have gathered already. His predecessor succumbs to an blade to the chest, I suppose, or an axe or another bloody, bloody weapon that ends life early on in the game. So the fun part of being Kendr falls to dear old Haken here. He's got a nice big axe and he knows how to use it, doubtlessly. And then there's Eagil, a guy with a big ass shield and the worst luck in the world. He will possibly, probably, die on your first five playshoots because there are any number of events that can kill him. Actually I think there are three and I have somehow managed to kill him in all three of them. It is very sad indeed. Anyway, if he does survive through the entirety of the game, you actually unlock an achievement. So try and do that and don't feel guilty if he dies a bunch of times. He is a nice enough lad and I do believe he's in love with her let. But hey, we can all dream, can't we? But really there are so many other characters and honestly if I went character from character discussing all of them, this would take an entire day. So I would advise you to discover them for yourself. Ah but there is one I can't go without mentioning. Last but not least there is Belauer himself, the just and valiant leader of the so very persecuted dredge. He is immortal, giant and very red. He's also the final boss which makes you, the player, a monster in so many ways. Spoilers. But enough about that, let's talk about the proverbial cream delicreme of the game and I do indeed mean the gameplay. There are two parts of it. The character driven turn based combat, tunneled combat too, is one of them. The main attributes characters have are armor and strength which doubles both as HP and damage done minus the armor of your target. The lesser can be broken in order for strength attacks to be far more efficient. Characters have special skills charged up with willpower. All your attributes can be levelled up which resolve points you gain when you kill enemies. It's a nice enough system I suppose, if not too deep and if anything it gets their job done. There's also the ability to equip characters with a single item that affects some of your stats. Nothing unusual on that front either. The combat, let's just say that it gets a bit too repetitive by the end of the game and there is an unpleasant, almost unbearable difficulty spike. Well, not unbearable certainly but it is unpleasant. The difficulty spike that goes on in the last boss battle with Blower. The other part of the game has to do with resource management and decision making. On the road, as a chieftain of your very own clan, I suppose, you're marching continually away and towards trouble. As such, you need to keep a tight reign on your supplies, trying to make sure that no one dies on your watch. There is a limited number of people in your caravan and it would do well for you if you make sure that none of them starve. There will be, let's just say, instrumental at some points in the game, allowing you to keep the dredged bay and to fight more difficult battles in ways that should accommodate you nicely. The fact of the matter is such that you can evade a lot of the combat going your way with the right decisions but really there is no reason to do so but because you've got an achievement and because in fact you gain experience that you need to level up your characters and points that you need to do so only by fighting. Well you gain resolve with some events as well but well it's not great. Not at all because you can't level up your characters without fighting and that is perhaps indeed the greatest weakness the banner saga has. It strong arms you into fighting with a combat system that is not too interesting and becomes dull after a time. At the end of the day though, the banner saga is so much more than its individual element. The atmosphere that of a barren world of dead gods is hauntingly beautiful and called and very lonely. Trust is hard to come by in a world besieged by death from blade and starvation alike. The animation is drop dead gorgeous 2D with monomolistic effects like hair blown by the wind or the occasional eye twitch movement underlay and the like. It's absolute fun and it does have life in what would otherwise be a motionless bunch of gorgeous wallpapers. Talking about gorgeous the vistas are a thing to behold good thing too because you'll spend a lot of time staring at the snowy tundras and planes of the beautifully drawn world. Truly stoic are dead themselves and the banner sagas world is filled with small details that will certainly interest those amongst you who are absolute law nerds. You could very well spend an hour simply looking through the map of the game and reading very interesting details that will further immerse you in this interesting rich cold and cruel world. The map really is giant and it obviously was crafted by someone who knows what he's doing. I actually am so envious of people who can do maps but that's besides the point. But really look at this map it's gorgeous absolutely sublime. If I had to say there was one thing missing from the game it would be voice acting. There are only a few lines whenever you get into some very large settlements or during the introduction of the game. It has been several long months on the road. The first signs of snowfall are cost us on our approach to Strand, largest of the trade cities on the Val human borders and our last collection before returning to the capital. Several days ago the sun simply came to a stop in the sky though during these long winter days none of us can be certain how long it has been this way. Some of the men in the caravan have taken it as a dire omen. I am not quick to superstition but I myself will be glad to be done with this year's rounds. We have been warned by stranded travelers about Brickens on the path through Richhorn our road home. Our captain seems unconcerned perhaps he is as eager as I to be done here. We will rest here this day and inquire further when we speak to the governor. Not that I blame Stoic for not having voice acting in every tiny part of the game after all it is rather expensive and at the time of development they were a small studio and I believe they still are even with the Banner sagas success in Kickstarter. And what little voice acting is in the game actually does out a lot of character and sounds very very Nordic. And where the game lacks in voice acting is certainly doesn't lack in multiple outcomes to your choices and there are plenty of them from conversations with characters which are completely optional to big decisions that will change the fate of many of your characters outside of combat and will possibly kill them off permanently as we spoke earlier about Ejo for example and he is by far not the only one who may die at any point because of a wrong decision you have taken earlier or later down the road. I in fact clearly recall that during my first playthrough I actually lost my favorite character and the one I had leveled up the most which was an awful blow to investing about 40 resolve in a single character and an item which quite buffed him. This can only prove and serve as a lesson that the Banner saga does not actually forgive mistakes easily no not at all. Response to the actual story has been overwhelming and although it leaves a lot of questions that's only to be expected it has always been planned as the first part in a trilogy. Now with the second part coming out I hope we'll get some answers certainly not all but hopefully we will even get a glimpse of what's to come and even perhaps this mysterious darkness that we have heard so much about. I have very high expectations for the second part of the Banner Saga and I just can't wait to play it if you enjoyed this video and are looking forward to seeing more about Banner Saga 2 please share like and subscribe to my channel. I would be very grateful thanks guys hope you had fun goodbye now