The banner saga 1 walkthrough. The Banner Saga - decisions and consequences. Basics of Game Mechanics

They founded the Stoic studio and took to Kickstarter with the initiative to create a fantasy role-playing game with a turn-based combat system. People liked the idea, the project received funding and began to grow. First, the authors released the shareware online game The Banner Saga: Factions, where they presented original combat mechanics. Now comes The Banner Saga, a single-player game with a long campaign that constantly forces the caravan owner to make difficult decisions with far-reaching consequences.

In this fairy-tale world, rooted in Scandinavian legends, evil has awakened. The army of darkness destroys cities and villages. People and giants are forced to retreat with caravans, unite, seek refuge in cities, so that in a minute they can again hold back the onslaught of the advancing forces.

The story is presented in text form, there are very few videos, dialogues between the drawn figures of the characters rarely appear on the screen. Much more often, as in a game book, you just have to read the lines and choose answer options. Moreover, you need not just a good knowledge of the English language, but an excellent one, since The Banner Saga uses difficult vocabulary, and choosing actions at random is highly discouraged.

The owner of the caravan must resolve disputes within his community, punish drunkenness and theft, calm greedy comrades, and resolve tense situations with jokes or force. Each conflict, of which there are many, gives the right to choose an action, but the result is not always obvious. The result can be either reconciliation with a subsequent reward in the form of local currency - “glory” (Renown) - and raising “morale” (Morale), or the loss of supplies (Supplies), people and key characters.

The main tests are external problems. Negotiations with the mayor of the city may break down. People who join the caravan with your permission turn out to be robbers. The decision to set a trap for the enemies turns into its own defeat. Deprived of supplies, the caravan begins to starve. People leave and die, morale drops. This forces us to take extreme measures, take off the smiling “good guy” mask from our faces and destroy the farms we meet, refuse those in need of help, drive people forward without rest in the hope of getting to some village.

A similar approach is seen in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels by George R.R. Martina. Fantasy without heroism, right and wrong, good and bad. Here it is important to survive at any cost, even if this means sacrificing friends and relatives, destroying alliances and betraying allies. You can't be nice all the time.

It's a bit of a pity that choices can only be made at certain moments. Hunger in a caravan becomes an integral part of unpleasant accidents and bad decisions. Instead of welcoming the residents of the next village, you want to “dispossess” them. But no, the head of the caravan gathers people and moves on to the next troubles and victims.

The art style of the game is not conducive to fun. Everything is drawn by hand, but without grotesque, bright colors and big eyes. A similar style was observed in old Disney cartoons (the authors did not hide the fact that they were inspired by the works of artist Eyvind Earle, who worked on “Sleeping Beauty” in 1959). It’s a pity that the style of “magical realism” is rarely used today. The dialogues are not voiced, the scenery for the events described in the text must be thought out by yourself, but the characters are drawn in such a way that from afar you can see their character and feel sympathy for them. The music, by the way, was written by composer Austin Wintory, who gave it a special mood.

The intense plot is not the only advantage of The Banner Saga. Often conversations fail to resolve the conflict, and the action is transferred to the battlefield. At first glance, everything is familiar. The flat map is divided into squares, along which warriors alternately walk and exchange blows. If before the battle they assure you that “hundreds of fighters rushed at each other,” do not believe it. The owner of the caravan places only six of his best warriors - heroes - on the front line.

The characters are part of the plot in one way or another. They are unique not only in appearance, but also in abilities (each has one). In addition, they are divided into classes. Spearmen, for example, strike diagonally and across one square, archers attack in any direction, and knights strike by getting close to the enemy.

Almost chess rules are diluted with a couple of interesting features. Heroes have "armor". Good defense is difficult to penetrate, so heavily armed warriors are superior to light infantry in close combat. On the other hand, the “health” indicator here is “strength”, so wounded soldiers are not capable of much. During the battle, you need to monitor not only the balance of forces on the field, but also their condition: knock off the armor of knights, weaken barbarians with enormous strength, and wisely use the unique abilities of heroes.

The Banner Saga's combat mechanics have few components, the development of heroes is linear, and they can only be equipped with one artifact that enhances their characteristics. Very simple. On the other hand, this is quite enough to turn each battle into a tricky puzzle, which sometimes has to be replayed several times in an attempt to find the correct sequence of actions.

Diagnosis

If-if-if - The Banner Saga sets a lot of conditions to please. If your English is excellent. If you are not bothered by the textual presentation of the plot and the almost complete absence of videos. If you like role-playing games without progression systems and turn-based combat with simple mechanics... Then you will most likely like this game. She has her own charm: beautiful drawings and magical music. She attracts with her cruel world and difficult decisions. She stimulates curiosity by offering to choose between several varieties of evil and observe the consequences. The merit of The Banner Saga is also that it does not try to seem better than it actually is. This is a fun game book with puzzle combat. You turn the first page and you can’t tear yourself away until the very end, where you find out that this is only the first chapter of a big saga.

• Fascinating storyline with many forks
• A dark fantasy world without “good” and “bad”
• The game constantly presents the player with difficult choices, and the consequences can only be guessed at.
• Simple but interesting mechanics of turn-based battles
• Superb art style and soulful music

Contra:

• Elections can only be done in certain places
• Neglecting graphics in favor of text descriptions of scenes
• Linear and simple character development
• Complex vocabulary and lack of translation into Russian

How to start playing Banner Saga? Beginner's Guide.

#1
Be careful when choosing your dialogues, as otherwise you may lose important characters and those in whom you have invested the most effort. If you started playing, but your English is poor, then you have to choose by luck. Unfortunately, playing Banner Saga without a language is even more difficult.

#2
If you choose easy mode, then your characters will not receive injuries and you can skip battles simply by watching them. For the laziest.

#3
Fame is used to develop characters, purchase supplies, items, and more. Be careful not to spend everything in one place, as each element of the game is of great importance. However, you don’t have to buy things, since they drop in battles and from stones of the gods.

#4
Characters level up their skills at levels 3 and 5.

The maximum character level is fifth.
Level 2: 2 kills and 5 renown
Level 3: 5 kills and 10 renown
Level 4: 9 kills and 15 renown
Level 5: 14 kills and 20 renown

#5
Keeping track of your supplies is essential to survival in Banner Saga. When your supplies drop to “0”, the warriors will begin to leave your caravan.

#6
Morale influences will during battles. The lowest morale will generate -2 willpower, slightly higher -1, normal morale +-0, good +1 and best morale will generate +2 willpower. If you think this is unnecessary, then no, will can have a serious impact in battle, but do not forget to rest in camp to restore morale.

#7
Don't try to level up all your characters to the same level. Choose a couple of your favorites and download them. In Banner Saga it is very difficult - if not impossible - to collect enough kills to level all your characters to level 5.

#8
Don't forget about the training area. Here you will not get injured or lose anything, as if you were defeated in battle. Plus, this is great practice for mastering new units.

#9
Study all the stones of the gods - there is an opportunity to get something useful.

#10
Don't ignore the Armor Break, Exertion and Willpower stats when distributing. Strength and Armor are not all that is required, as well-distributed skills will be a serious advantage.

#11
After winning the first wave during the war, if you decide to kill more opponents and win the battle, the caravan will receive a morale increase.

#12
Don't try to be the "good guy" in all situations, this can lead to negative effects and death.

#13
There is no need to focus on a single character, investing all your resources and things into him, since in the event of a scripted event you can lose everything. Use leveling only when absolutely necessary, distribute fame equally among selected characters... or read guides about losing characters.

The Banner Saga is a tactical game with RPG elements. The action takes place in Scandinavia. The main character of the game is a Viking who craves battles and glory. This is the whole premise of Banner Saga. Read the walkthrough of the game below.

Description

A very interesting project, which is very undemanding in terms of hardware and was released on various platforms, including smartphones. Because of this, the Banner Saga project gained great popularity. The game's release date is the very beginning of 2014.

The first and second chapters of the game

In the very first city you will have to fight in the palace of the head of the Strand. There is nothing complicated in it - many hints and tips will help you understand the mechanics of the game. After this, you will be briefed on everything that is happening by Eirik, with whom you will have to proceed to the market. There we learn the details of the incident and go to the tavern.

Here the player awaits the second battle. Whether to get into a fight or not - it all depends on the option chosen in the dialogue. It is best to agree to the battle, since it will give you experience and a reward that will be useful in the future. If you downloaded the English version and do not understand the dialogues in The Banner Saga, you can download the crack for free access on the Internet. You can also find cheats that will make the battles easier if the game becomes too difficult.

After the end of the battle, we must go to meet with the guests of the city and talk. Now the player can choose to either stay in the city for a little while longer or leave it immediately. Once you have decided to continue your adventure by joining the prince (guest of the city), you travel to Grofheim. Along the way, you will encounter several squads of enemies; you can deal with them quite easily and quickly even on medium difficulty. This will end the first chapter.

At the beginning of the second chapter, the player will have to go to Skogr. Adventures in a new location begin again with battle. After this, the hero picks up provisions and quickly goes to the city. In Skogr, your squad will be joined by a new character - Iver. Next, another battle will begin, as a result of which you can lose one of the characters.

Next, go to the throne room. There you will be asked to level up your characters and distribute skill points. After a dialogue with the leader of the settlement, your companion Iver is about to leave the city. There are no important choices in the dialogue, they differ only in wording and will not affect anything in the further history of the Banner Saga. The passage continues outside the city.

The difficult journey to the neighboring settlement of Frostvelr is accompanied by battles. The difficulty of the battles gradually increases, so do not forget to stock up on supplies before leaving each city. The caravan is very tired and moving unevenly, so it is wiser to decide to rest.

Along the way you will meet hunters who can join the Viking squad. However, for this you need to have a certain number of fame points and provisions.

The path ahead is long, and many caravan participants break down. One such incident occurs at night when one person gets drunk and starts a fight. The main character is responsible for what to do with the culprit.

In general, the path to the city will take up the entire second chapter of the Banner Saga. The passage continues in the third part of the game.

Chapter Three

Now the caravan's path lies to Vedrefell. Along the way we meet more robbers who no longer pose any threat to our caravan. After all, even more Vikings joined the detachment. There will be a small reference to the new part of the series The Banner Saga 2, so be careful.

On the road there will be a small camp of traders. You can bargain and talk with them. In any case, these NPCs are peaceful, so we pass by them. It is not recommended to buy provisions from them as they sell stale food. Because of this, the caravan may be poisoned.

Next you will meet an army of dredges. Now the player will get acquainted not only with small battles, but also with another mode called war. It is a table in which the forces of opponents are compared with the forces of the player, and it is proposed to choose one of the developments of events: attack, battle formation, defense, retreat and automatic battle decision-making. It is very reminiscent of the principle of battles on the global map from any part of Total War.

Chapter Four

In the fourth chapter, the scene of action is transferred to the city of Frostvelr. Our caravan is parked near its outskirts and cannot get inside. While we are outside the walls of the settlement, we can complete several additional quests.

Stock up on provisions at the local market as food has been brought in. Before leaving the city, several Vikings will want to join your squad.

If you decide not to leave the city, but to stay in it, then the development of events will take a slightly different path.

Chapters Five and Six

Now we move back to the main characters of the third chapter of the Banner Saga. The passage continues in the city of Sigrholm. Here you have three branches of development of events. You can gather your squad and leave the city, help or help defend it. The choice depends entirely on the player's decision.

It is best to help the residents, as this will bring a lot of experience and military glory. You have to endure three difficult battles, during which you can lose fighters, so be careful.

But it still won’t be possible to protect the bridge - it will be broken using magic. All you have to do is leave the city with your caravan. The Banner Saga, which could take several pages to review, has almost reached the final stages of its plot development. Then the penultimate chapter of the game begins.

On your way to the new city, you will have to complete several simple quests. You can choose the long path and spend a lot of time, or you can take the short road. But there will be many enemies on it, so it’s up to you to decide. It is better to take a detour, since more than half of the people can be lost in battle. And bypassing will give you additional fame points. Also in the sixth chapter there are a number of side missions that are completely optional.

The final chapter

The entire chapter is devoted to the siege of Bersgard. The entire battle will take place in five stages, one battle per day. Every day the opponents will become stronger, so your squad will lose many combat units. On the last day there is a boss battle. After this, the game ends, and the continuation of the story can be seen in The Banner Saga 2.

It is a mixture of role-playing game and simultaneous turn-based strategy in the distant past, only about guys from the north - the Vikings. The original appearance, the crazy inhabitants of Scandinavia and the heroes of their myths, sweeping away enemies in one or two and the opportunity to change history - that’s what this game rests on. And now more about the passage The Banner Saga.

Walkthrough The Banner Saga- how to play?

Basics of Game Mechanics

The Banner Saga is a turn-based strategy game, and that's saying a lot. A standard battle in the game is a battle between two opposing sides, with a limit of 6 units on each side, although in rare cases more are possible. In turn, each side will perform some action - attack, defense, use of special abilities.

The battle map is an analogue of a chessboard with square cells for units. Each unit can move a certain number of cells. Melee units, like regular warriors, can only attack adjacent cells. Although, for example, spearmen can attack two cells. Ranged units, for example, archers - up to 5 cells, but they cannot attack adjacent cells.

Combat tactics: what is better - to kill or seriously injure?

If we are talking about powerful enemy units or those who can cause serious damage to your army, then they definitely need to be killed. It is enough to seriously injure the weak, but it is not worth finishing them off. The reason is simple. In The Banner Saga, units move in turns, first a unit on one side, then a unit on the other. And when a weak enemy unit dies, his strong units will simply start moving more often, which is not beneficial for us.

That’s why it’s important to have 2-3 strong units in your team rather than 5-6, but weak ones. It’s like with a new laptop - it’s better to buy an excellent model with a basic configuration and forget about laptop repairs, than to buy a cheap but “sophisticated” one and struggle to find a repair service every couple of months. And where to find her.

Which is better armor or strength?

Health in The Banner Saga consists of two parts - strength and armor. An important aspect is that the strength indicator affects not only health, but also attack power. However, they usually try to reduce the enemy's armor (this is easier to do). However, against particularly strong units, it is advisable to use a strength attack to make it weaker.

Upgrades

Strength - affects your health, as well as attack power. It is therefore important to monitor this indicator, since it affects both defense and attack. Perhaps the most important indicator in the game The Banner Saga.

Armor - affects health in The Banner Saga. Armor reduces damage to health itself. If the armor is higher than the enemy's attack power, there is a chance for the attacker to miss in The Banner Saga.

Gap - this indicator is permanent and does not change during one battle in The Banner Saga. Reduces the enemy's armor level. Good for armor-piercing units in The Banner Saga.

Will - used both to increase attack power and the ability to take an additional step onto a cell. It is useful to develop Will along with Effort for mobile units in The Banner Saga.

Effort - shows how many willpower points you can use per turn.

Approach each choice with extreme caution, because any incorrect answer in the dialogue leads to big losses. Although for the most part there are no correct answers here - you have to choose the lesser of evils.

The maximum squad level is 5. How to get it?

Level 2 - 2 kills and 5 glory points

Third - 5 and 10

Fourth - 9 and 15

Fifth - 14 and 20

After the third and fifth levels, the squad gains special abilities. Each level gives two points towards upgrades.

Don't forget about morality, it affects Willpower in battle. Low morale will reduce it by 2 points, and high morale will increase it by 2.