# The Banner Saga



## tommers (Jan 14, 2014)

Came out today.  One of the early kickstarter success stories, a tactical RPG set in a kind of Viking mythology.

Absolutely stunning to look at.  Genuinely beautiful.  I've only played about 15 mins but it's good so far.  I can see that there will be some interesting decisions to make in the combat and lots of people have compared it to fire emblem, which can only be a good thing.  It also reminds me a bit of king of dragon pass.

Supposed to be pretty difficult too, which always helps.

Anybody else playing it?


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## golightly (Jan 14, 2014)

It caught my eye, but I haven't succumbed as yet.  Does it use turn-based combat?


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## tommers (Jan 14, 2014)

Yes.  Absolutely.  But it has a nice twist.  Sides take turns and your health determines damage - so it's worth keeping injured opponents alive cos they can't do much and they take up a turn.  To damage their strength, though, you need to reduce their armour.  Plus everybody has a special power of some sort.  So far i'm really liking it.  It feels like you could lose every fight pretty easily from the 2nd one onwards.


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## tommers (Jan 14, 2014)

I really like this.  It feels epic.


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## emanymton (Jan 14, 2014)

Looks interesting, and it would even run on my laptop. Is it possible to get it anywhere other than steam though, as I have problems with steam on my laptop. I can't check on the official game site as it seems to be down.


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## tommers (Jan 15, 2014)

I don't know tbh.  I think they're planning on doing that but it's just steam atm, from what I can see.

I got it from kinguin, but they just sell you a steam key.


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## slightlytouched (Jan 15, 2014)

It wouldn't let me login when I last tried, will try again tomorrow.  Glad to see that it looks good.


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## Buddy Bradley (Jan 15, 2014)

Will probably grab it when it show up in a Steam Sale, still working through Tomb Raider at the moment.


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## tommers (Jan 20, 2014)

I'm probably about halfway through now.  I would recommend it if you want a turn based tactics game, mixed with a norse myth and all wrapped up in beautiful graphics and sound.  It's a bit King of Dragon Pass, it's a bit choose your own adventure.

The difficulty is just about right (not sure why people keep mentioning how difficult it is, I think I've had to restart 1 battle) and choices really seem to matter.  Bad things happen regularly.  I like it.


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## ruffneck23 (Jan 21, 2014)

might grab an ' evaluation ' copy later to take a look


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## tommers (Jan 23, 2014)

Just completed it.  

It gets better and better and I think the second half of it is possibly one of the best things I have played in a long time.  Loads of difficult choices to make which directly influence who lives and dies.

The combat is interesting, the art and music is properly beautiful and the story is tense, emotional and bittersweet.

Most of all it's something different.  Yeah it's turn based tactics but the way it's presented to you is amazing.

Can't wait for the second one, I wish I could play it right now.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jan 23, 2014)

No word of a lie, it is under legal threat from King, who make Candy Crush Saga, because they want to trademark the word Saga. They already _have_ trademarked the word "Candy", again no word of a lie.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/01/22/king-are-trying-to-candy-crush-the-banner-saga/


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## tommers (Jan 23, 2014)

FridgeMagnet said:


> No word of a lie, it is under legal threat from King, who make Candy Crush Saga, because they want to trademark the word Saga. They already _have_ trademarked the word "Candy", again no word of a lie.
> 
> http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/01/22/king-are-trying-to-candy-crush-the-banner-saga/



Yeah, I have already messaged King to ask them why they are such a bunch of dicks.

The situation could not get more good vs evil if it was written by fucking spielberg.  What a bunch of cunts, they don't even have the trademark for "saga".


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## emanymton (Jan 23, 2014)

FridgeMagnet said:


> No word of a lie, it is under legal threat from King, who make Candy Crush Saga, because they want to trademark the word Saga. They already _have_ trademarked the word "Candy", again no word of a lie.
> 
> http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/01/22/king-are-trying-to-candy-crush-the-banner-saga/


It is things like this that really highlight how utterly insane our world is.


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## emanymton (Jan 23, 2014)

tommers said:


> Yeah, I have already messaged King to ask them why they are such a bunch of dicks.
> 
> The situation could not get more good vs evil if it was written by fucking spielberg.  What a bunch of cunts, they don't even have the trademark for "saga".


Maybe once they do the will try and sue Sega.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jan 23, 2014)

tommers said:


> Yeah, I have already messaged King to ask them why they are such a bunch of dicks.
> 
> The situation could not get more good vs evil if it was written by fucking spielberg.  What a bunch of cunts, they don't even have the trademark for "saga".


To be fair it did make me aware of the game, about which I thought "hey that looks pretty good actually".

Some people are running a Candy Game Jam, the goal of which is to write as many games as possible that break as many trademarks as possible. I shall be going in for that.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jan 23, 2014)

emanymton said:


> Maybe once they do the will try and sue Sega.


And Aga.


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## tommers (Jan 23, 2014)

emanymton said:


> It is things like this that really highlight how utterly insane our world is.



They've trademarked the word "candy".  Only for like games and headphones and other electrical goods, but they've trademarked the word "candy".  What. The. Fuck?


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## tommers (Jan 23, 2014)

FridgeMagnet said:


> To be fair it did make me aware of the game, about which I thought "hey that looks pretty good actually".
> 
> Some people are running a Candy Game Jam, the goal of which is to write as many games as possible that break as many trademarks as possible. I shall be going in for that.



Yeah, play the game!

I love the irony of King worrying about people infringing on their IP when their main success is fucking Bejewelled but with sweets.  Oh no, what would happen if somebody copied it?  Twats.


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## Vintage Paw (Jan 23, 2014)

I really wish some judge would set a precedent and tell them to fuck the fuck off. This trademarking of common words is fucking ridiculous. Sure, trademark your logo that contains the word, so people can't use that word when it is displayed in the same design as your logo, but the word itself? Fuck the fuck off.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jan 23, 2014)

tommers said:


> Yeah, play the game!
> 
> I love the irony of King worrying about people infringing on their IP when their main success is fucking Bejewelled but with sweets.  Oh no, what would happen if somebody copied it?  Twats.


I know, it's such a joke. Oh somebody might copy our incredibly derivative match-three game which we copied off people who copied it off other people! HELP US LEGAL SYSTEM


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## tommers (Jan 23, 2014)

Of course we can all contact king to let them know our thoughts.

Not that it will make any difference, but it's quite cathartic.


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## Epona (Jan 28, 2014)

I think a game with a Norse backdrop has eminently more moral right to use the word Saga than - well pretty much any other game on the planet.  I do often feel some sympathy towards companies who take action against another company using a very similar name that could be confused with their product, because the way IP law works is that one has to actively defend one's rights to a name or logo.  But this (and the trademarking of individual common use words with a prior history of usage) is clearly just complete lunacy and I hope King get told to fuck right off.

I looked at The Banner Saga on Steam recently when I think it was on sale and am very tempted but it's a bit pricey for me at the moment - I will pick it up at some point when it is on sale.  (BTW my obsession with not buying games at full price is not some sort of moral crusade, or lack of support on my part for games development, it is simply that I have very little cash to spend on things other than the basic necessities and have a very real need to make what little I have stretch to as many games as possible!)


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## tommers (Feb 1, 2014)

'Candy' trademark prompts protest http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25978468


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## tommers (Feb 2, 2014)

Review is here....

http://www.peoplesrepublicofgaming.com/the-banner-saga-2/


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## tommers (Feb 15, 2014)

King are now using time travel to hurt families. 

http://www.peoplesrepublicofgaming.com/king-candy-legal/


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## tommers (Mar 11, 2014)

This is 33% off on steam.   I would recommend it,  it's beautiful.


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## mrs quoad (May 22, 2014)

Now 40% off. £11.39.


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## mrs quoad (Oct 2, 2014)

I wasn't expecting that! Runs on phones as well as tablets!


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## mrs quoad (Sep 28, 2016)

Fffffuuuuuhhhhhhhh.


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