Blog 7
Game: The Banner Saga
Q1: Of the key narrative elements discussed so far in the course (interactivity, level design/linearity, moral choice/non-linearity, character), which do you think is the most prominent, important or interesting in your chosen game?
For this blog I have decided to return Banner Saga, a game I have previously played and enjoyed. Of the key narrative elements that we have discussed this term I feel that most of them are done to good quality in this game. But which is the most prominent, important or interesting. At this stage I think that the characters are the most prominent, important and interesting. Why do I think this? This is very much a character driven story, as I said in the previous post on this the issue of morality and what the player does can be considered but only for minor things. When it comes to the central, core story the player can only watch as the characters play through the dialogue. As such, "Andrew Burn argues, they play a dual role as both player agent and fictional character, belonging simultaneously to the "Ludic" and "Representational" systems that comprise the game."(The Routledge Companion to Video Game Studies, 2013, Jessica Aldred) I think that what Andrew Burn states has relevance to this game because it really does a large portion of both character and player moments. the biggest being at the end when you decide who takes the arrow out of 'Rook' or 'Alette'. This is such an important moment as far as characters go because they are two of the most important characters in the game and now you have to decide which one dies. I feel as though the characters are well developed and they all have something to give to the story, for example, I felt that 'Rook' was brave and caring, whilst 'Alette' is scared and uncertain, 'Hakon' is stern and fierce, while 'Ludin' is spoilt and bossy. All of these characters serve something to the game, "there is a universal mythological structure underlying good and popular stories, and the Hero's Journey is the
most useful way to get at that structure and use it to create new stories."(Into the Woods: A Practical Guide to the Hero's Journey, Bob Bates, 2005) I think that as we follow this non-linear story of different groups with their different characters it is easy to see that each group and even each character follows this concept of a 'Hero's Journey'.The design of the characters works really well with the style of the game the 2d animated fights and the 2d background provides and interesting change in a market that I think is being over-saturated in one style 3d animation. On another note, the fact that most of the dialogue is done through text is no problem at all. This in fact fits with the concept of Alette stitching the journey into the banner, its as if its a big story being told through pictures and writing in a book.
In conclusion I think that character is the most most prominent piece of this puzzle because of, design, character and player choices, hero's journey and because the player agent and the fictional character meld together so well to create a complete story and an enjoyable game.
