3. Could your game have developed its narrative and told the
same or a similar story without any of the characters?
This week I chose The Banner Saga a 2d animated turn based strategy game. The game is about two caravans of people trying to escape a invading force. Could this games narrative be told in a similar way with out any of the characters? No I do not think it could, at least not in a very good way. The way The Banner saga tells it's narrative is via interactive cut scenes similar to a telltale style point and click game, you choose what choices and dialog options to take in a menu.
The issue with the way The Banner saga tells it's narrative is that it only affects half or even less then half of the game. The story or your actions do not change the way the turn based strategy part of the game. I only saw one option I chose affect the turn based strategy part and that was a single line of dialog that did not change the game play or the story that came after it. It was quite disappointing really.
The Banner saga does not really need a narrative for the turn based parts to play out, these parts don't feel like part of the narrative at all and could very be it's own separate game. The dialog option heavy cut scenes could not work at all with out the characters in them, there simply would not be a story. These parts play more like a visual novel then a game.
So Could The Banner Saga have developed its narrative and told the same or a similar story without any of the characters? No it could not and yes it could. It's a very mixed bag as it feels like two games merged into one and while I do think it's a good game and I did enjoy it I don't think it really works out all that well sadly.
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