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The Banner Saga Development Thread

The game has soft launched for all backers starting today. Full singleplayer/multiplayer is now available. It's launching Feb 25th for everyone else.



Im not sure i understand what this is exactly....they make it sound like the game isnt done.

'With Factions’ launch, we’ve effectively worked out the thick and thin of combat and we’re soon on to travel and conversation outlined in the previous update, and thus, the single player campaign. '


That seems like there is no campaign yet...
 
So with the soft release of factions I tried it out today..

bannersaga2_zps1fe8e619.jpg

I was really surprised by this. I guess I should have kept up with the development updates but I didn't think it was going to be a microtransaction-type game at all.
 
I played and enjoyed the beta a few times within the first couple weeks. I didn't have a chance to play further when they added the option to customize your group of warriors and such. How far behind will I be? Can I catch up easily in terms of what's been added since the original beta launch?
 
I'm surprised this thread only has 51 replies.

Same. If nothing else, the game looks absolutely stunning. And my limited time with the multiplayer mode showed an impressive combat system as well.

I expect more people will figure this out when the single player campaign is released.

I guess I should have kept up with the development updates but I didn't think it was going to be a microtransaction-type game at all.

The free-to-play multiplayer mode has microtransactions, the single player mode doesn't. I am not sure how much the in-game store affects the multiplayer balance.

I knew about the pay store early on but it looks like it was officially announced in a project update after the Kickstarter ended. This is what they had to say:

Who can play Factions?
When Factions launches in November it will be free for everyone to play. A niche game relies on lots of players and if only people who bought the full game could play multiplayer the servers would quickly turn into a wasteland. That said, we’ve seriously gone out of our way to make sure that the game doesn’t feel like you have to grind or pay. We designed the combat without a pay model in mind and you’ll never have to pay a cent to enjoy the multiplayer the way we intended. Hopefully that doesn’t bite us in the ass.

That seems like there is no campaign yet...

Correct. Only the free-to-play multiplayer mode is finished. It uses assets from the single player mode and they used feedback from beta testers to tweak the combat system.
 
Tried out the tutorial. The battle mechanics seem fine and the art looks great, but I'm not interested in grinding out the multiplayer for renown. Will wait for the campaign to be released later this year.
 
So with the soft release of factions I tried it out today..



I was really surprised by this. I guess I should have kept up with the development updates but I didn't think it was going to be a microtransaction-type game at all.

Yeah...don't recall that being mentioned when I pledged. Not interested in the multiplayer, so suppose I'm not too miffed, but still, kinda shitty that.
 
Yeah...don't recall that being mentioned when I pledged. Not interested in the multiplayer, so suppose I'm not too miffed, but still, kinda shitty that.

Yeah same here. I realize they're releasing the multiplayer component in order to have some cash flow for their company, but it feels kind of shitty to give them money to kickstart a single player campaign only for them to seemingly focus on a microtransaction filled multiplayer game.
 
I want to see single player progress myself (not that I've been looking for it) but I wouldn't say they're focusing on that. Various elements they make translate to both modes. The combat system they had nearly ready to go before the campaign, since they always planned to release the free to play multiplayer first and didn't hide that, will obviously benefit both. They can't exactly release a campaign in half finished bits and pieces, most of the mechanics will need to be in place to even give a brief demo. Travel, dialogues, choices, unit progression, whatever else. I guess they could do some of those just for the demo but I'd rather they don't waste time. The best they could do without all that stuff is a battle demo, which the multiplayer covers. Anyway, I didn't actually pledge even though I made its Kickstarter thread so maybe I'm more lenient than you...
 
I haven't received any update mails since I cancelled my KS account (don't even know if the two are related). I honestly forgot about this game, and the microtransactions news and MP only for now don't seem like the greatest start.

Gonna have to contact them or something to see what's up. Didn't even realize there was a beta.
 
Again, the mp was always going to release first, even before the Kickstarter campaign started it was "coming soon".
 
The tutorial scenario was a great tease for the single player campaign. I wasn't following that close the updates post-KS pledge, but I remember that they hinted at staged launch of the game from the beginning. It gave me a feeling of almost episodic releases of the game with backers entitled to the full game in the end. The micro transactions were indeed a surprise for me too but the PvP battles felt great and the systems balanced so someone could ignore completely that portion of the game and still enjoy it. I really want though to play the campaign. Hope they give us a release date soon.
 
I'm glad to hear about the progress of the multiplayer. I look forward to hearing about the single player content (which is the main reason I backed this project).
 
I haven't received any update mails since I cancelled my KS account (don't even know if the two are related). I honestly forgot about this game, and the microtransactions news and MP only for now don't seem like the greatest start.

Gonna have to contact them or something to see what's up. Didn't even realize there was a beta.

You should try making an account on the developer's forum at stoicstudio. The access to the beta is tied to the email address you used for the kickstarter. Your forum name will be green if it recognizes you. You'll probably have to make an account there eventually in order to get access to the single player campaign when that comes out.
 
You should try making an account on the developer's forum at stoicstudio. The access to the beta is tied to the email address you used for the kickstarter. Your forum name will be green if it recognizes you. You'll probably have to make an account there eventually in order to get access to the single player campaign when that comes out.

Will do then. Thanks for the tip.
 
so as a backer, how exactly do i get this now?

Register on their forums at stoicstudio.com with the email address tied to your kickstarter account. Then click on the link in the validation email they'll send you. After that they will send you a steam code for the multiplayer. I got mine in a couple of hours but I think they generate keys manually so your results may differ.
 
I haven't received any update mails since I cancelled my KS account (don't even know if the two are related). I honestly forgot about this game, and the microtransactions news and MP only for now don't seem like the greatest start.

Most of the assets in the MP mode translate directly into the single player campaign. The beta was also useful for nailing down the combat mechanics. See this post for a big update on the campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stoic/the-banner-saga/posts/396284
 
They are receiving quite a bit of bad feedback over this in the Kickstarter comments.

Personally I don't have a huge problem with the multiplayer component being released first and the game being heavily delayed, however the micro transactions and the lack of multiplayer for the stretch goal platforms is pretty shitty in my opinion.
 
I'm not sure how I feel about it. Apparently they did mention a standalone multiplayer in the original kickstarter campaign. But it does feel just slightly concerning that the SP game has been delayed. Though, Factions is basically the core combat system. So, it's a part of the progress toward the SP game. Yea, not sure how to feel.
 
I'm not sure how I feel about it. Apparently they did mention a standalone multiplayer in the original kickstarter campaign. But it does feel just slightly concerning that the SP game has been delayed. Though, Factions is basically the core combat system. So, it's a part of the progress toward the SP game. Yea, not sure how to feel.

As long as the single player is good and you dont get any gameplay advantages with microtransactions I really don't care.

Id rather they make sure the game is good before they release it than try to get it out as fast as possible to please impatient people. I don't have an issue with micro transactions for this game as well considering that the developers have stated that none of them have been taking a salary. All of the funds have been going into the game. That's pretty crazy if you ask me.

Ive played the beta some. And while its definitely fun, I think i'll need the single player to actually hook me into it since that hopefully will supply the meaning and context. Right now, I just hop on occasionally when I want some nice strat game
 
As long as the single player is good and you dont get any gameplay advantages with microtransactions I really don't care.

But it does, doesn't it? I mean, you can buy renown (or whatever they call it) with money, and that allows you to improve your roster with more experienced units off the bat. I admit I just checked the tutorials and looked at the marketplace for some minutes, but that is what it looked to me you were buying (other than cosmetics).
 
But it does, doesn't it? I mean, you can buy renown (or whatever they call it) with money, and that allows you to improve your roster with more experienced units off the bat. I admit I just checked the tutorials and looked at the marketplace for some minutes, but that is what it looked to me you were buying (other than cosmetics).

Thought they said they were going to change it. And you are always set up against a person with the same or similar renown so you really can't crush someone with stats since the matching system doesnt allow it
 
Just played a bit of this on steam. Graphics are amazing! Reminds me of The Last Unicorn and Bakshi stuff. Can't wait for SP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtfP0FeEN0I

Honestly I wish they didn't go for Adobe Flash/Air or whatever they are using.
Everything feels sort of slow, sluggish.
Also, going for few more animation frames could have helped a lot to improve the general feeling.

But yeah, the general art direction is very, very good.
 
Played the tutorial, seems like it could go intense. I've never played these kind of strategy RPGs and especially never multiplayer.

First battle got disconnected.

Who wants to fight me?

Steam: digi_matrix
 
Man I really want to like this but the servers are terrible. Understandable on the first day with the sudden rush but I just got droped from a game two minutes ago
 
First couple of games were laggy but the the next couple were ok. Game seems nice although at the rate they give renown i am not even bothering. I'll wait for the single player.
 
Just played through the tutorial and my first online game. This is really fun. The F2P stuff also looks pretty fair to me. Doesn't seem like you need to put any money into it.
 
Played a game with my friend, that also eventually got disconnected and then you pretty much have to Alt+F4. Will play on a more stable time.

30 second timer is too short, accidentally clicked that and it's clearly for more experienced players. It feels like battle chess, don't want to go too forward. Archers can be brutal against Shieldbangers. Quite a bit of maths to memorise for each of your dudes vs the enemies' numbers.
 
Fairly disappointed in this project. The single player has become an after thought and they are hoping for freeium cash to start rolling in so they can make it.
 
Beautiful game. Really looking forward to the SP.

Not sure about the MP though. Managed to win my first game but direct 1 vs 1s are always a little too... stressful for me.
 
Everything I've read about this game has been about the combat, or screens of the combat. I had no idea the final game was going to be King of Dragon Pass with complex party-based strategy battles, using the same basic idea FTL uses to propel you forward.

That is awesome.

That DOES sound awesome. Just played King of Dragon Pass for the first time a couple of weeks back. What an amazing (and strange) game!
 
Beautiful game. Really looking forward to the SP.

Not sure about the MP though. Managed to win my first game but direct 1 vs 1s are always a little too... stressful for me.

I know that feel, man.

How are you guys getting games without disconnecting, lol?

I want to play with you guys.
 
I know that feel, man.

How are you guys getting games without disconnecting, lol?

I want to play with you guys.
The first time I started the game it wouldn't even let me past the load screen because of server errors. When I tried it again after a few hours everything was completely fine and there were no problems during the match.
I guess their servers just have trouble handling the launch.
 
This game is so beautiful, weird we don't have a dedicated thread for the release of Factions. Game totally deserves one (once the connection kinks are worked out, just got booted from my first online match).
 
Played a game with what I think was one of the devs. He absolutely destroyed me. Kept giving me pointers on what I was doing wrong during the game, lulz.
 
so is anyone else currently playing Factions? I have spend about 20 hours with the game now, doing quite well but something pisses me off to the point of not wanting to play anymore. I run a rather offense-oriented team, and in 90% of the games I have to be the one who attacks because my opponent builds up his nice little defense line and then absolutely refuses to fucking move. And guess what? The attacker always has the fucking disadvantage! And there's nothing in the game that disencourages fucking turteling. And I'm getting really tired of running into a wall of defenders because otherwise nothing will happen! Granted, most of the time I win anyway but it's not even close to a fair and even match. And everytime the fire map comes up, I want to shoot myself in the head.

someone should do a Faction thread
 
Played three matches and I'm two for one right now. I would have probably won my first match too if I didn't ran out of time twice. I either managed to misclick several times in a row or some of those clicks just didn't register properly.

Aaaanyhow, this seems like a neat little strategy game. Do we have a GAF Steam group going for this right now? Or just add me on Steam (Steam ID: asmodejan) for some friendly matches.

I feel good about my Kickstarter pledge, can't wait for the singleplayer campaign. Oh and like several others have already mentioned, Factions definitely deserves it's own OT.
 
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