Whew what a saga this was. I'm glad I played this series if only for the really satisfying narrative. This truly feels like a fully fleshed out fantasy novel story and world set to a game, and I really loved that aspect. The world and its history, magic, and peoples were so well developed, and I loved the characters I got to know. The ending too was very satisfying, revealing the final puzzle pieces as to what happen to set things in motion while also tying everything up nicely (depending on your choices).
That being said, it's unfortunate that now the series' novelty has worn off, I'm not so impressed with the gameplay anymore. So many of the issues that have existed since the first game are still lingering here! You're telling me in the 4 years since the release of the first game, the developers didn't have time to iron out some of the UI and gameplay issues and bugs? It's pretty baffling, not to mention what was added to the combat in particular wasn't all the noteworthy either. There are more new classes which is always welcome, but the only other major addition are waves. Yea, now some battles have additional waves you can choose to partake in for additional goodies. Interesting idea, but it didn't really mesh with the game as a whole. It felt too gamey for an otherwise very story-driven title where combat was more about giving you challenges to drive the atmosphere of strife and difficulty for the player. If this is what they spent their time on instead of fixing longstanding issues, it was a major misfire.
Another weird quirk is how they implemented the traveling mechanics this time. One of the two parties is traveling as normal, so nothing off there. The other though, stays in one city the whole time, so how do you get the Oregon Trail-style traveling and decision making from previous games into their storyline? You have them slowly travel through the city to get to objectives. This just kind of seemed odd, though I can't complain too much as there were still interesting moments that came out of this. It's just super weird to go slowly through a single area, not to mention later on when you're revisiting some of these same places, you don't have to travel slowly to get there anymore. So why did I have to in the first place?
That's basically the end of most of my complaints however. When you really get into the meat of the story, Banner Saga 3 does plenty to make this a worthwhile finale. It's really just these nitpicks that keep it from being great. The penultimate chapter in particular is so cleverly structured, I loved that part a lot. Even if some decisions for Iver's party were a bit nonsensical and overly unpredictable to the point where I felt I was being penalized randomly and not because of a mistake I made.
To start to wrap things up on a more positive not though, the presentation thankfully remains a highlight. Not as many animated cutscenes this time, but the artstyle remains excellent, we get some more haunting voice acting in bits, the music from Austin Wintory is exceptional, and once again this world just absolutely comes alive. It's impressive what this team was able to do with this saga, even if they unfortunately left a few too many gaps along the way.
Overall, if you're a narrative-focused gamer, or one where a narrative focus falls into your taste, this series is well worth your time. Otherwise, the gameplay flaws may have a large impact on your enjoyment.
That being said, it's unfortunate that now the series' novelty has worn off, I'm not so impressed with the gameplay anymore. So many of the issues that have existed since the first game are still lingering here! You're telling me in the 4 years since the release of the first game, the developers didn't have time to iron out some of the UI and gameplay issues and bugs? It's pretty baffling, not to mention what was added to the combat in particular wasn't all the noteworthy either. There are more new classes which is always welcome, but the only other major addition are waves. Yea, now some battles have additional waves you can choose to partake in for additional goodies. Interesting idea, but it didn't really mesh with the game as a whole. It felt too gamey for an otherwise very story-driven title where combat was more about giving you challenges to drive the atmosphere of strife and difficulty for the player. If this is what they spent their time on instead of fixing longstanding issues, it was a major misfire.
Another weird quirk is how they implemented the traveling mechanics this time. One of the two parties is traveling as normal, so nothing off there. The other though, stays in one city the whole time, so how do you get the Oregon Trail-style traveling and decision making from previous games into their storyline? You have them slowly travel through the city to get to objectives. This just kind of seemed odd, though I can't complain too much as there were still interesting moments that came out of this. It's just super weird to go slowly through a single area, not to mention later on when you're revisiting some of these same places, you don't have to travel slowly to get there anymore. So why did I have to in the first place?
That's basically the end of most of my complaints however. When you really get into the meat of the story, Banner Saga 3 does plenty to make this a worthwhile finale. It's really just these nitpicks that keep it from being great. The penultimate chapter in particular is so cleverly structured, I loved that part a lot. Even if some decisions for Iver's party were a bit nonsensical and overly unpredictable to the point where I felt I was being penalized randomly and not because of a mistake I made.
To start to wrap things up on a more positive not though, the presentation thankfully remains a highlight. Not as many animated cutscenes this time, but the artstyle remains excellent, we get some more haunting voice acting in bits, the music from Austin Wintory is exceptional, and once again this world just absolutely comes alive. It's impressive what this team was able to do with this saga, even if they unfortunately left a few too many gaps along the way.
Overall, if you're a narrative-focused gamer, or one where a narrative focus falls into your taste, this series is well worth your time. Otherwise, the gameplay flaws may have a large impact on your enjoyment.