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Austin Wintory: The Banner Saga
Reference Recordings
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The Banner Saga, a game by Stoic, released on Tuesday, January 14th, is one of the best games I've ever played. The graphics is hand drawn and reminds me of Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings and pre-CGI Disney animation. Absolutely gorgeous.
The gameplay is like Final Fantasy: Tactics, so you'll have a 'fantastic' time if turn-based strategy games are your thing. I have played FF: Tactics before, but this is fresh on my mind because I hated the terrible touch screen interface of their Apple iOS port on my iPad. I still prefer to play games on my computer, which I'm glad to see The Banner Saga is available on PC and Mac first. I have a semi-recent computer with integrated graphics, and it had no problem running The Banner Saga.
Like FF: Tactics, The Banner Saga is pretty hard, even at the default setting. I don't like reading instructions, so the first few times I was playing the game, I was doing it wrong, spending all my "Renown" points on artifacts, and ignoring supplies and clans management. It's a balance, you can't keep everyone happy.
I'm at a point in the game that I cannot beat a boss. Sure, I can dial down the difficulty, but I hate doing this. My only option right now is to restart the game and re-play the game with a different focus.
My favorite character to play is Rook, an ax-wielder, but he can also play as a ranger (bow/arrow). His daughter is pretty useless, unless you can get enemies to lineup in a straight line. Typically, in these type of games, the archers have low hit points, so they are usually the first to be picked off. But you do need archers in these games to needle down characters with high defense (blue). You cannot do physical health damage until their defense is lowered in some cases.
You also need some tanks/strongarms to inflict high damage, so it's a balance, like all great games. Of course, there are 'menders', which are mages in the game. I think their magic bypass defense and goes straight to the health, but don't quote me on this. I haven't gotten too far in the game, but I'm certain there are better classes out there.
Today (Jan 17th), the studio published an article on the music of The Banner Saga and how Boston's Videri String Quartet was inspired by the game that they are releasing a recording and shooting their debut music video using the themes and costumes from the game.
The article, written by Jenka Eusebio, detailed about how it came together because last November The Banner Saga's composer Austin Wintory sent the Videri String Quartet the game trailer.
I don't think the music video is available right now, but you can hear it on soundcloud.com.
Also, in the meantime, you can pick up Austin Wintory's soundtrack to The Banner Saga via Bandcamp.
The Banner Saga game is available now on Steam for $24.99. Want to test it out? The free online/multiplayer version is called The Banner Saga: Factions.
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Banner Saga Combat
image: Stoic
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Like FF: Tactics, The Banner Saga is pretty hard, even at the default setting. I don't like reading instructions, so the first few times I was playing the game, I was doing it wrong, spending all my "Renown" points on artifacts, and ignoring supplies and clans management. It's a balance, you can't keep everyone happy.
I'm at a point in the game that I cannot beat a boss. Sure, I can dial down the difficulty, but I hate doing this. My only option right now is to restart the game and re-play the game with a different focus.
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Rook
image: Stoic
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You also need some tanks/strongarms to inflict high damage, so it's a balance, like all great games. Of course, there are 'menders', which are mages in the game. I think their magic bypass defense and goes straight to the health, but don't quote me on this. I haven't gotten too far in the game, but I'm certain there are better classes out there.
Today (Jan 17th), the studio published an article on the music of The Banner Saga and how Boston's Videri String Quartet was inspired by the game that they are releasing a recording and shooting their debut music video using the themes and costumes from the game.
The article, written by Jenka Eusebio, detailed about how it came together because last November The Banner Saga's composer Austin Wintory sent the Videri String Quartet the game trailer.
I don't think the music video is available right now, but you can hear it on soundcloud.com.
Also, in the meantime, you can pick up Austin Wintory's soundtrack to The Banner Saga via Bandcamp.
The Banner Saga game is available now on Steam for $24.99. Want to test it out? The free online/multiplayer version is called The Banner Saga: Factions.
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