Lotheneil vs. The Backlog Hydra, Ep. #4
Hello again ladies and gentlemen, another week in backlog assassin’s office has passed. ABC Challenge project is coming along nicely, two targets off the list:
The Banner Saga
12 hours of playtime, 35 of 39 achievements
The game is a beautiful postcard from a harsh fantasy world, inspired by Skandinavian myths, with its charming art style and music. We take control of a group of people, fleeing from invading army of golem-like enemies. Constantly on the move, we take care of supplies and morale of the group, making - sometimes harsh - decisions and fending off attackers, while slowly immersing ourselves in the world, learning the region’s history, lore and characters through conversations and event descriptions. And that the game delivers perfectly.
On the other hand, the gameplay just seems to lack essence to me - battle system, character development, characters and even plot are on a lackluster side. For the first half of the game they were extremely bland, conversations empty and pointless. As a result, I couldn’t bring myself to care for the characters and the plot failed to spark any emotions in me. The events picked up the pace in the second half, only to stop abruptly at the end (the title is a first part of a trilogy and it definitely shows).
Verdict: neutral leaning positive. This game is not for everyone. A bit like a work of art - definitely pleasant to look at, but without real practical use.
Status: completed. The only achievements missing are related to higher difficulty settings. Not worth the effort in my opinion.
Chantelise
13 hours of playtime, no achievements
I was really looking forward to playing this game. I have a fond memory of another title from the same studio, Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale - a really entertaining and (back then) fairly unique mix of dungeon crawler and item shop managing sim. Chantelise did not live up to the expectation though. It takes one aspect of Recettear, dungeon delving, dumbs it down removing any character development system (statistics are present, but are affected by equipment only), switches perspective to 3D and pairs all that with simplistic plot and platform elements - the camera, unruly at times, does not help with aiming jumps in the slightest. As the title was released in 2006 (Japanese version, EU and US are dated on 2009 and 2011 respectively) audio and visuals are nothing to write home about either. Generally speaking - I did not like the game at all.
I have to admit honestly that some nostalgia for Recettear I’ve used to play like 10 years ago may have had an impact on my opinion on Chantelise. And yes, I am aware that contrary to western releases, in Japan Chantelise was older than Recettear. Still, I can’t find any element that would really captivate me or even stand out from mediocrity. Only for die-hard fans of slasher-type action games.
Verdict: neutral leaning negative I was bored to death with this title. If it wasn’t a part of my ABC challenge, it would be tossed into ‘Won’t play’ trashcan like halfway into the playthrough.
Status: completed. Main plot, optional area and all secret chests collected. I don’t believe there is anything more to see in this title.
What did you think Chantelise’s final boss? I remember it felt like a brick wall to what’s otherwise an easy game.
Yeah, it was a royal pain in the rear part - I did die a good couple of times there (though that was the case for other bosses too, I do not exactly excel in skill-based games :)) and only barely beaten it after some grinding for HP bar extenders. While I wouldn’t call the last quarter of the game “easy” either, sudden difficulty spike was definitely there. Fun thing that the second phrase was significantly easier than the first, which is usually the exact opposite.
For sure. Entire last part of the game felt like kid gloves were finally taken off.
Nice opinion on the banner saga, that I agree with. The art, music and story are beautiful, but it’s not the best ‘game’ out there. Battles all feel the same after a while. Most good strategy games add new elements in the course of their missions that force you to adjust tactics, whereas here the things they added were not that exciting and didn’t change the way I played. Still worth playing through, even if purely for the non gameplay elements.
Thank you for your review on ‘The Banner Saga’. It’s in my backlog as well. 12 hours playtime seem reasonable for a game like this – not great, but not bad either. Do you plan on playing the sequel?
I don’t own it yet. It’s not high on my wishlist, so I’ll get it when it gets significantly discounted or bundled. But yes, planning to play it someday :)
Ah, I probably should have looked through your games first :D Ok, but good to know, that you would still play the second part :)