The Banner Saga 3

The moving, fitting climax of a true epic. The Banner Saga took four years to complete and is living proof of what a strong vision, flawless artistic direction and well-tuned game mechanics can achieve when working in perfect synergy. If the screenshots speak to you, you will find here a game that is truly in a league of its own.

The trilogy reaches its eventful climax. If you like tactical roleplaying games it doesn’t get much better than with this epic entertainment.

As the final chapter of the trilogy, The Banner Saga 3 should not be bought with the hope of finding some kind of gameplay innovations, but to savor the last part of an epic journey in search of safe place and truth.

The Banner Saga 3 is a good game, but if you have to take a step back and look at the trilogy as a whole, you will truly appreciate the whole greatness of this saga.

The Banner Saga 3 is the compelling conclusion to a saga that first captured hearts in 2014 with its masterful hand-drawn art, gut-wrenching decision-making, and satisfying turn-based combat. The final installment is everything it was expected to be and more, and while it may not be particularly welcoming to newcomers, it’s a fine reason for everyone to dive back into the Viking saga once again.

The Banner Saga 3 won't have the same kind of meaningful impact if you haven't experienced the rest of the series. But if you've taken the time to journey with these characters from the very beginning, this finale is a worthwhile and cathartic end to your long journey.

We’ve seen our characters in a perpetual state of ‘fight or flight’ the entire series, barely pausing to catch their breath before hitting the road again. I don’t feel like I know these characters, which makes it all the more difficult to care about them when the entire world is collapsing in on itself.

I played the whole trilogy back to back, so this is a review of all the games. There are some nitpicks I have such as the "maim strategy" limiting gameplay variety... but thats about it. Everything else I loved! I found that as the trilogy progressed, there were enough new challenges and moveset updates that it keeps you on your toes. The art style and soundtrack are unique and always a treat to experience.

The Banner Saga Three weaves a grand finale, but struggles to tie up loose ends. Seen in context with the prior two installments, it seems to me that the Banner Saga is less a series of three games and more one game chopped up into three parts. While it’s true that all three games find a definite climax to end on, in every aspect but the story, the Banner Saga games are almost identical. That isn’t a bad thing when it comes to the production values: The art is its evocative self, switching between the haunting woodcut-like rendering of the lands and detailed and expressive depictions of the characters during combat and conversation, the former sporting impressive animations, the latter owing a lot to the style of the hand-drawn early disney movies. The music beguiles with haunting horns and overall excellence. The dialogue is sharp and yet relatable, which is a hard needle to thread. Less welcome is the lack of evolution of the game systems. There are a few more options for character growth, but in the end those just add additional options to increase the very same attributes and hit chances. There is a new class of enemy, but they basically behave the same as the other enemies. The involved numbers become greater, but the game experience stays the same. Especially now that all three installments are easily accessible, it really feels like the Banner Saga is one whole. So is it worth sticking around through the whole saga? That question hinges on the story sticking the landing. Has the landing stuck? Mostly yes in my opinion. The End of the World is addressed, how well is dependent on your performance and decisions. The great mystery of how the Apocalypse started is explained. I’m not exactly happy with a few of the turns the story takes, but overall, the finale is well worth witnessing. Only… a few of the crucial details of the plot remain frustratingly vague, and not in an intentional way. To me it feels like the writers had lost sight of these details at some point. It’s a bit of a shame, because some of these details were very intriguing. Especially the last race entering the ranks of playable characters remains quite underdeveloped. Still, if you have made it this far, you’ll want to get to the end, to see all the sights the saga has to show you. They are well worth the modest time investment the game asks of you. TLDR: If you’ve played and enjoyed the first and second Banner Saga, you owe it to yourself to experience the finale. Everybody else should start at the beginning or walk away.

Неплохое завершение серии. Единственное, что концовка подкачала и очень не хватило качественного и красочного эпилога. Не совсем ясно, зачем нужно было ближке к концу отрисовывать раскрытый ранее и полностью понятный твист, и при этом никак не отрисовывать эпилог, да хотя бы текстом и картинками выдать. Но это такое. По технической части. Стоит дождаться патчей. Игра умудрилась вылететь 8 раз и в большинстве случаев после распределения уровней персонажей и битв с несколькими волнами врагов, что доставило определённые неудобства из-за необходимости делать всё заново. Что касается русской локализации. Ей занималась не отечественные локализаторы, а польская компания Testronic. Вышло средненько. Во-первых, в тексте встречается достаточно опечаток, ошибок и косяков с тэгами, попадаются даже строки с пометками локализаторов (в духе "Саня, что это, переведи", но более коротко и официально). Во-вторых, сложилось впечатление, что текст был очень криво разделен, либо переводился вразнобой, либо какие-то строки переводились гораздо позже уже другими переводчиками, иначе сложно объяснить, как в подряд идущем тексте сначала персонаж изъясняется вполне ясно, а во второй фразе уже так, будто переводящий фразу человек не понимал, что происходит, да ещё пол персонажей перепутал; туда же идут разорванные строки, когда предложения и куски текста повторяются в двух диалоговых окнах, словно текст обновлялся, строки видоизменялись (старый текст перемещался в новую строку), а в переводе и старый текст оставался, и новый переносился, в итоге получилась каша. Исходя из указанного ранее, можно предположить, что в переводе не было редактора и корректировщика. По итогу локализация всё ещё уступает первой части, но стоит признать, что гораздо лучше второй, где она была просто на уровне грунта.

The 3-rd part is a huge disappointment. 1) Dialogues are written with the left foot. Boring, uncharismatic, with mistakes and, at times, with complete absence of the slightest sense. 2) If you don't have save files from previous chapters, the authors formed the most disgusting version of the previous decisions for you. [spoiler] 3) Backgrounds and music are mediocre. Music - background noise. The backgrounds are faded and unattractive. 4) The final, though logical, but terribly banal. [spoiler] Outcome: - We do not have a choice, we have to buy to find out the end of the story. - Developers know this too, and therefore we got what we got. - The third part gets 4 points out of 10. The first and second parts are 9 out of 10. - If you are not familiar with the series, definitely take the first part, and then decide for yourself shell you continue or not.

I have no complaints in the visual part, only a claim to the level of the developers' approach, why should I pay for the same thing that I met in the first part with the same money, very minimal innovations, the scale is not felt.