Review: The Banner Saga 2

<p>I wish that my review for <em>The Banner Saga 2<&sol;em> could be as simple as&comma; &&num;8220&semi;Buy the first game&comma; then buy this game&period; You will not regret any of it&excl;&&num;8221&semi; Sadly&comma; I am not allowed to do that&period; However you should play both of these games in order and to completion &&num;8212&semi; Something&comma; even with all my gushing&comma; I have yet to accomplish&period; I reviewed <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wheres-bruce-banner-saga-review&sol;"><em>The<&sol;em> <em>Banner<&sol;em> <em>Saga<&sol;em> <&sol;a>about six months ago and fell in love with everything about it&period; Unfortunately my attention span is that of a chipmunk&comma; and something else shiny took my attention away from it&period; I regret that decision now knowing that I could have imported a complete save file into the sequel and the world would be mine&period; I had to start a completely new game which led me to a character choice&period; This choice basically told me the end of the first game&comma; but I still plan on going through it&period; If you&&num;8217&semi;ve not finished the first game&comma; do not fire up the sequel until you do&period; Fair warning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Once your character has been chosen&comma; you are immediately thrust into battle&comma; and this comes right after you&&num;8217&semi;ve defeated your main nemesis in the first game&period; Doing so changed nothing in the world&period; It is still breaking and the Dredge are still a scourge across the land&period; Your plan is to sail to safety by getting to Arberrang&&num;8217&semi;s impenetrable walls&period; On the way to the docks you encounter a small town&comma; <span class&equals;"&lowbar;5yl5">Boersgard&comma; that is under attack&period; Without a second thought you hurl yourself at the Dredge and save the remaining villagers from a terrible fate&period; There you meet some new characters that have joined the Saga&period; Aleo&comma; the chieftain to the town you have saved&comma; probably has the biggest part moving forward&period; His face kept popping up during travel and provided me with problems to solves and such&period; This time you go all &&num;8220&semi;Viking&&num;8221&semi; in the game &&num;8212&semi; instead of watching everyone travel as a huge caravan&comma; you are now seaworthy and have to stop on shore to rest and gather supplies&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;109558" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-109558" style&equals;"width&colon; 640px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-109558" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;07&sol;03131327&sol;banner2-1920x1080&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;THE BANNER SAGA 2 - VERSUS EVIL&rpar;" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"360" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-109558" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>The Banner Saga 2&comma;<&sol;em> Versus Evil&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Stoic Studio brought the same battle system over from the first game&comma; which makes sense&period; After the first tutorial and the eventual title screen&comma; you are thrust into Chapter 8&period; I thought that was an insanely nice touch for all the players&comma; seeing that this is an opus of epic proportions&period; The battles are still turn-based strategy where you maneuver your team to victory on the battlefield&period; The newest addition to the battle systems are obstacles&period; Now you may have to smash through some to get to the enemy&period; This will affect your moves and should change your thinking on the battlefield&period; This is the series that piqued my interested in the <em>Fire Emblem<&sol;em> series&comma; so if you&&num;8217&semi;ve played one of those games and enjoyed the battles&comma; then <em>The Banner Saga<&sol;em> is the saga for you&period; Basically&comma; your battle takes place on a grid and you must move your team around that grid while being mindful of how far they can move and how far their attacks can reach&period; Each party member has different attacks and different specials&semi; Use these to your advantage to defeat all the Dredge before they defeat you&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The amazing visuals are back as well&period; The character design that shows the love from the designers is there with every furrowed brow or subtle reaction&period; As I said in my review of the first game&comma; the visuals remind me of the old <em>Hobbit<&sol;em> cartoons I use to watch on television&semi; that still hits me hard right in the nostalgia&period; I&&num;8217&semi;ve also never really been able to play many table top games seeing as I have a lack of friends&period; Stoic Studio has turned <em>The Banner Saga<&sol;em> into a console version of a table top game&period; The voice-overs and written text relay that table top feeling so well that I want to get into table top gaming so that I can continue the awe inspiring adventures once the saga has ended&period; The score that whistles through the game is so subtle and yet so perfect&period; It never takes away from the game&comma; but it gives it so much&period; If there were Grammy awards for video game music&comma; Kayne West would be upset because <em>The Banner Saga<&sol;em> score would have won both times already&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;109567" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-109567" style&equals;"width&colon; 640px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-109567" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;07&sol;03131315&sol;The-Banner-Saga-2-1080-Wallpaper-3&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;THE BANNER SAGA 2 - VERSUS EVIL&rpar;" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"360" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-109567" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>THE<&sol;em> <em>BANNER<&sol;em> <em>SAGA<&sol;em> <em>2<&sol;em> &&num;8211&semi; VERSUS EVIL&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>I cannot recommend this game enough&period; It is beautiful&comma; well written&comma; properly scored and perfectly controlled&period; The only huge negative that I could think of was the fact that the loading times seemed a bit too long&period; I don&&num;8217&semi;t remember the first game having long loading times&comma; but it seems that number 2 needs more help booting up the scenes and gameplay&period; The other negative was my own fault &&num;8212&semi; not finishing the first game and spoiling the ending for myself&period; Anyone who played the first title needs to play this one&period; Anyone who likes table top games&comma; anyone who likes <em>Fire<&sol;em> <em>Emblem<&sol;em>&comma; heck&comma; anyone at all should enjoy this game&period; Grab the first one&comma; play it&comma; grab the second one&comma; play that&comma; and then patiently wait for the third&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><em><strong>The Banner Saga 2 is one of July&&num;8217&semi;s free Xbox Games with Gold<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;