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The Banner Saga: Factions
Released On: Feb 25, 2013
67
8.1
All Platforms
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 5 Critic Reviews
67
20% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
80% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 5 Critic Reviews
67
20% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
80% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Proves that Stoic knows how to design one helluva combat system, and it's a great tactical experience even when played for free. The microtransaction system limits that fun, and it still needs a bit more technical polish, but this clever take on turn-based combat has me hyped to see what Stoic does with its planned single-player game.
While testing Banner Saga through Factions is not exactly social work, it's not what you've been waiting for, either. Call it a scenic detour that gives the dinner hosts at Stoic some extra time to cook more side dishes while testing out the current ones on guests. Don't worry: Factions is plenty of fun on its own and will only get better as updates roll out.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 116 User Ratings
8.1
74% Positive
86 Ratings
86 Ratings
11% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
15% Negative
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 116 User Ratings
8.1
74% Positive
86 Ratings
86 Ratings
11% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
15% Negative
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
Don't pay attention to any negative reviews about this game. If you like turn based combat you're almost guaranteed to like it. The music is cool. The graphics are cool. Give it a try. And don't be a wuss and give it negative reviews because you couldn't understand the strategy and got your ass kicked. It is NOT in any way "pay to win."
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PC
This title is amazing. BUT it does not seem like it when you first try it. I backed it on Kickstarter at the time just based on the beautiful graphics. When i got in the beta i HATED the combat. I just could not wrap my head around the concepts. However, one fine Sunday, while i was in a relaxed mood i tried the game again. Since it was free and all. And i was hooked. Once you understand the basic concepts, the game starts to make sense. And the more you play it the more you realise its depth. This is the type of game you can play for a lifetime and not master. That in itself is a gargantuan achievement from Stoic. To understand why you need to play it think about this one other game that does this. Chess. It has been played for centuries now and it still fascinating. That's the punchline. This game is as good if not better than chess. And its just the multyplayer part of it. For free.
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PC
Factions is a teaser of a bigger game and does a rather lousy job at encouraging to check out the main dish. It’s simply boring. [CD-Action 06/2013, p.81]
The Banner Saga: Factions’ slower pace and current lack of class variety will be enough to discourage many from trying this particular brand of turn-based strategy. But those who can look past these flaws will find a somewhat deep combat system that necessitates tactical awareness and forethought, and a rewarding experience for those who invest the time needed to learn its intricacies.
An accomplished and pretty strategy game, sadly hindered by a handful of questionable design choices.
In the long run, this portion of The Banner Saga will appeal mainly to those who enjoy the tactical depth and pace of chess (albeit a timed game). Graphics are great for a couple of reasons: stylistically it's a beautiful homage to the old school animations of the 60's and 70's Disney stuff. Because of this style, I'm able to easily play it on my piece of crap computer with no discernible performance issues.
My concerns about it being an f2p game were quickly taken care of when I realized that purchasing anything from their market will allow you to have higher level teams but it won't give you the skill to play your team. It would actually be convenient if you were an experienced player who simply wanted to double up on a particular unit without having to grind. Mainly you are paying for a convenience. It is not pay to win. Also, you can cheaply purchase different color schemes for your units.
I am already firmly addicted to this game. It's been many years since I enjoyed a tactical game as much as I do Banner Saga: Factions. It is going to be a niche game, but I get the impression that Stoic Studio is ok with that. And so am I.
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PC
This game is awesome if u ask me. Simply let me put it like this:
“You can’t sell advantage. That’s rule number one. You can’t buy advantage in Factions. You can speed up progression and you can buy vanity items. We made the decision to make it not pay-to-win.” That is said by Watson. I LOVE THIS GAME!!!
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PC
This game is wonderful in so many ways. The amazing art style, a combat system with actual depth and an interesting progression system for each individual character. Sure, the game might suffer from some bugs and lag issues but that will be fixed in due time. There is, however, one major flaw of the game that drags the score down from a strong 9 to a 7: namely the in-game store. The primary thing you buy from the store is renown which is used as a "currency" in the game to buy levels for your party making your characters stronger and additional skins. The problem lies with the buying of levels though. This means you're essentially buying power which should be considered as a universally bad thing. Now, there is a system within the game to match you to an opponent with similar combat experience and a party with a similar amount of levels but let me give you a hypothetical scenario to point to the problem: a beginner start up the game one year from now with no experience whatsoever. The popularity of the game has cooled off and left are the hardcore players who have invested a lot of time and maybe money into the game. Now the beginner search for an opponent at his lever but since there are no such players the search algorithm has to go further and pick an opponent from the pool of hardcore players. He will become utterly crushed, both because of his inexperience but also because of his strictly inferior party to that of the opponent's. See the problem? The game is amazing in so very ways so I hope Stoic will resolve this problem as soon as possible.
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PC
This is a very pretty game with a refreshing art style, everything is hand animated and every perceived angle is rendered. Which makes this game nothing more than a pretty package that when the player finally opens it nothing is found inside. The combat is very slow and rather basic. The only thing complicated or deep from the gameplay is whether or not you'll get to have a turn or will your character do nothing? There is a very basic design flaw in this game that ruins it and it is that turns get skipped and characters will remain idle for no explained reason other than that the game doesn't work and the programmers didn't go over their product to see if it was broken.
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PC
This could have been great game, I would suggest you to check it out just because of graphics, sadly it's wasn't enough to keep me playing. What sinks this game to the bottom of ocean are terribly flawed mechanics. While there may be some others, I'm gonna mention two that when combined show you how futile playing this game is.
1. Small strategic choice. There is very small variety of units, you can find which one fit you best and then you will stick with them. After that there really isn't point to changing your group and everyone will have pretty much the same group anyway. Besides that you can upgrade your units but the change there is almost negligible. You get small bonus to one of the units stats and ability that in rare occasions may be slightly better than normal turn. All this will make every game feel same and if you play well and so does your opponent you will each end up with the same last unit at the end of the battle. So this is where the small differences come into play right? Well except there is also...
2. Random miss chance. There is nothing that can destroy carefully balanced difficulty **** than random miss or crit chance. I was enjoying this game quite a lot until one game where I ended up with one upgraded archer and my enemy with one normal one. My archer had long distance shot ability which should give me the first hit and thus grant me victory, right? Well no. I got the first shot alright but when we started trading blows I missed a one shot. Despite enjoying the game up to this point, this match made me quit the game and never look back because it was enough to show me just how imbalanced this game can get.
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PC
Summary What is The Banner Saga? Short answer: role-playing meets turn-based strategy, wrapped into an adventure mini-series about vikings. Travel through stunning landscapes straight out of an animated film as your party escapes what could be the end of everything. Battle painstakingly hand-animated foes in strategic, turn-based combat. Mak...
Rated T
for Teen
Platforms:
- PC
Initial Release Date: Feb 25, 2013
Developer:
- Stoic
Publisher: Versus Evil
Genres:
