Disappointing Ending in BS2 (Only because BS1's ending was so good!)

[Lunnara]

After being addicted to Banner Saga 1 and playing it for hours on end, I was super disappointed by Banner Saga 2's ending. In Banner Saga 1, the ending felt so poignant to me...deeply moving, and with a decent amount of wrapping up loose ends and closure, but still with some questions left unanswered...but satisfying enough as an ending. In Banner Saga 2, things felt rushed at the end and there were so many loose ends and questions unanswered...it felt more like a cliffhanger ending to me, which I immensely disliked because it feels like marketing/revenue ploy for DLC or another sequel. I feel a bit cheated.

That's my two cents..which I don't usually give often unless I really feel passionate about something. I really loved the story of BS2 up until the rushed, unfulfilling ending. Thanks for reading and for creating an awesome game (up until the ending ;P).

Oh, as a minor sidenote, I felt like Rook's romance with Oddleif felt a little...well, odd and out of place. It felt like it popped out of nowhere. Alette and Egil, I could see development, but not Rook and Oddleif.

[Aleonymous]

Hello there.

Yes, many threads on this topic on Steam forums as well (search for: "Cliffhanger").

I agree that the game feels rushed near the end, for example Ch14 is much more "shallow" compared to, say, Ch8 or 10. Apart from the main event (Arberrang King parley), the rest of the events/happenings feel a bit awkward and unpolished, especially how Canary joins and how the two ending battles play with Rugga's & Hakon's stance. I also think that Ch15 could have been extended a bit, maybe with a few battles or dialogue scenes. Finally, given that losing the final battle does not "Game Over", I think that we could have been given the option to play either as Bolverk or as Iver in that last Chapter.

I don't really mind the cliffhanger nature of the ending itself (Saga1 ending and cinematic-sequence was much better, surely!), but the fact that the events near the end feel rushed...

And, yes, that Rook+Odd romance at Lauga came a bit out of the blue. There was some build-up to that in Saga1, but it didn't pick up until that moment in Saga2. The Alette+Egil one was smoother, but it could have been better supported as well.

[Lunnara]

Ah cool, thanks so much for the link and response, Aleonymous. I completely agree with everything you've said and also having been given the option to play as Bolverk in the final battle would've rocked!

[Aleonymous]

I think the reasoning behind the final battle is that you'd probably have maxed out Bolverk, whereas Iver would not be so powerful due to the Skogr caravan having so many alternative Heroes/options. In this way, the battle is much harder. However, if Iver is stronger (and Zefr is Rank 6+) then the final battle is somewhat of a stroll... It's very hard to balance such a 1-on-1 battle!