When comparing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic vs The Banner Saga 2, the Slant community recommends Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for most people. In the question“What are the best games on Steam with a rich story?” Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is ranked 7th while The Banner Saga 2 is ranked 53rd. The most important reason people chose Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is:
The games story is pretty deep and the text that can be found within that, tells it will take multiple playthroughs to see it all, making for not only a good reason to play many times, but creates the feeling of a very deep universe.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Longevity through multiple playthroughs thanks to the sheer amount of text and choices to be found in the game
The games story is pretty deep and the text that can be found within that, tells it will take multiple playthroughs to see it all, making for not only a good reason to play many times, but creates the feeling of a very deep universe.
Pro Many mods
You can find many community-created mods that improve the game.
Pro Gameplay holds up well
For what is now an eleven year old game, the classic Bioware RPG game mechanics such as branching dialog and turn based battles similar to a CRPG (where the player must pause the gameplay in order to choose their commands to then un-pause in order to watch their chosen strategy play out) hold up well.
Pro Engaging story thanks to the superb writing
Being a role playing game, KotOR has a pretty long story that the player feels connected to that luckily was written well, making for a good story that is very engaging.
Pro Handles Star Wars license well
Seeing things like Jedi vs Sith and politics in the game that are now staples of the newer movies helps to feel as though the game fits into the cannon quite well. With so many movie license games in the past being quick cash-ins it is great to see the Star Wars license used in a manner that fits with the cannon and of high quality development.
Pro Helps you to learn the gameplay thoroughly
Tactical RPGs can be really intimidating, especially if you're just starting out. The tutorials often blaze forward, causing you to miss important mechanics. Luckily, Banner Saga 2 tries to alleviate this by adding a trainer NPC who will give you challenges. These involve performing various combat exercises, helping you to solidify your understanding of the game and even learn something new.
Pro Solid tactical combat
Even though Banner Saga 2’s turn-based combat system is fairly straightforward. You and your opponent take turns in moving and attacking with units on a tactical grid. Each unit has its strengths, weaknesses, and set of unique abilities that you need to consider.
For example, archers can attack from far away but they have low armor, so you can’t leave them out in the open. Another example are the Varl, very durable and strong melee units that occupy 4 tiles as opposed to 1. This makes it trickier to position them since more enemies can stand next to them and attack them.
This creates combat that is not too simple but still has enough variety and strategy involved to feel rewarding.
Pro Great hand drawn graphics
Banner Saga 2 environments, characters, and animations are all hand-drawn. This includes your caravan as it marches over a snowy hill, passing trees and houses in the distance. The various viking-esque soldiers, centaurs and other mythological creatures, swinging axes and thrusting spears on a worn out bridge. Even the very detailed character sprites as they discuss matters with extremely serious expressions. Everything just feels like you’re watching an animated movie, which is something almost never encountered in a game.
Cons
Con Somewhat buggy
Crashes can happen while playing, while not a huge deal they can be annoying.
Con HP damage based attacks cause one-dimensional tactics
A unit's current number of hit points equals the damage it will deal to an enemy. Because of this, the best strategy is always to hit all enemy units in a sequence, so they inflict as little damage as possible. Any other strategy is too risky and can backfire way too easily, limiting your creativity.
Con Incomplete story
To get a full and satisfying story, you’ll have to play the entire Banner Saga trilogy. Banner Saga 2 on its own feels like you’ve suddenly started reading a book from the middle. There are a lot of characters you know very little about, making it hard to understand their motivations. The on-going events are not explained fully. Even the ending is not a satisfying conclusion but just a setup for the next arc.