|
FredMSloniker posted:Another drifting-off-to-sleep thought I had: it occurs to me to compare and contrast the plot of this game to that of Freespace, another game in which every gain you make against an endless horde of alien monstrosities is more than offset by a loss and your ultimate accomplishment is simply to survive for a little longer. How they go about it, though, is very different. Just to nitpick a bit, you don't actually develop shield tech in Freespace "after decades of research," humanity and the Vasudans never managed to figure it out on their own, it was only when they stole tech from the Shivans(who had pretty much perfected shielding technology) that they finally figured out how to make it work. There's two or three missions against them prior to that, where you can engage and defeat Shivan fighters despite their shields, their untrackable electronics, etc. but it's a bit of a feat to the extent that you actually get an in-game commendation for being the first pilot to manage to down one of them. I'd also say that, storytelling-wise, there's a huge difference. In the Banner Saga, you're the one in charge, the one making the choices, so those choices do have to actually matter(even if it's a choice between two bad things). In Freespace, it's a good bit more about hopelessness as you are, ultimately, just a grunt on the front lines(admittedly an important one, but still) and several missions highlight how you're essentially used for almost-suicide missions, as a distraction, fed false info for sinister reasons, sometimes forced to lose missions by the actions of your own commanders. Freespace does a lot to conjure up that "cog in a bigger machine"-feel, to me. In the first Freespace, the Shivans were also most certainly interested in killing off all of humanity and all of the Vasudans, having their ultra-capital ship en-route to Earth when you finally kill it, after it having destroyed the Vasudan homeworld utterly. It was in Freespace 2 that they became more of an inscrutable force of nature than a malignant force of destruction.
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2014 05:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 20, 2024 03:50 |
|
|
PurpleXVI posted:Just to nitpick a bit, I suppose I should make it clear that this is more of a 'contrast' than a 'compare' (your comments about being an interchangeable pilot, even supported in-game by your ally fighters being actually competent). And that this is not meant as a critique of Freespace. (Though I do think Freespace's gameplay is stronger than its plot.) The Banner Saga is the better Norse game. Freespace is the better game about exercises in futility.
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2014 05:59
|
|
|
Bump for The Banner Saga 50% off sale on Steam until September 12. If you haven't bought it yet, now's the time!
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2014 01:27
|
|
|
Hi Chewbot, I thought you might like to know that a guy who is arguably one of the greatest living writers not only played The Banner Saga, but also apparently thought the writing was rad as hell.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2014 14:36
|
|
|
Oh hey, neat, Banner Saga 2's been announced. Haven't checked out the actual announcement yet, but I'm glad it is happening. Hope it makes them a bundle of cash.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2014 20:58
|
|
|
Oh God yes, I want more sad vikings in the snow in my life.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2014 21:21
|
|
|
Yup, here's the new trailer.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2014 21:24
|
|
|
Oh hey, that seems to indicate there actually will be choices imported.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2014 21:37
|
|
|
Also looks like the horse people are getting into the mix. I am surprisingly stoked for this.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2014 23:07
|
|
|
This video has been removed by the user. Welp, guess I missed it for now. edit: VVV  but thanks for the new link! Hauki fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Dec 9, 2014 |
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2014 23:46
|
|
|
Hauki posted:This video has been removed by the user. Now it's up from IGN! If that one goes down, I guess just search Youtube for 'Banner Saga 2' and find it within ten seconds.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2014 23:57
|
|
|
Good. That's a good thing.
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2014 00:08
|
|
|
Scribbleykins posted:Iver, bloodied, but still swinging his axe, blocking blows then returning them, standing firm; only two goals in mind. That Alette live and Bellower die. Alette, with her grief wound back like her bowstring, crying after her dead father, firing arrow after arrow, emptying her quiver into Bellower's body, whose roars grow fainter and more confused. He cannot finish the varl. He cannot reach the archer. He is losing. Okay, this is from a few pages back, but I just wanted to bring attention to it since I just read it. Scribbleykins, this is good.
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2014 07:57
|
|
|
Ofc they don't announce a date for the sequel. More Gunnulf and Wintory is always a good thing.
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2014 19:06
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 20, 2024 03:50 |
|
|
GetWellGamers posted:Okay, this is from a few pages back, but I just wanted to bring attention to it since I just read it. Scribbleykins, this is good. Thanks! Emergent gameplay is a grand ol' thing to write around. I really lucked out finding that Bellower-killing strategy on my first win. Never, before or after, did a victory in-game feel more appropriate. I think, after Iver and Alette were alone on the battlefield, it took about five or six turns to kill Bellower, during which I went from "well, this attempt's busted' to 'wait a minute, he can't kill Iver' to 'oh my gosh I am actually beating him in a last stand with the two most appropriate characters in the game'. I made sure Alette took the final shot. It's the thing that can upgrade a game from 'money well spent' to 'outrageously glorious personal experience'. I am so, so very pleased production of The Banner Saga 2 is well underway.
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2014 19:43
|
|
