That Strange Moment of Confusion

I don't think I've ever had this happen before...at least not that I can directly recall.  Here's the situation--I start playing a game (and it's not a standalone or new game--it's the third game in a series!), get about midway through said game, and then have this crazy realization...I'm not enjoying this game very much and it's very possible I didn't enjoy it much in the previous two games.  How, HOW, does this happen?  Am I delusional?  Let's hope not.

The game in question is The Banner Saga 3.  I played the previous two games and can vaguely remember feeling a bit mixed about them (and, I strangely never reviewed them--I think that was mostly due to my undecidedness).  Yeah, I guess we really do forget a lot over the course of a few years, because I snapped TBS3 up like a hot tamale with absolutely no thought about "do I really want to play this?"  Welp, it turns out that the answer to that question is "not really."

There are many familiar faces in The Banner Saga 3.

There are things that I have always liked about the series--namely the artistic aspects (the art and animation in the games is very unique and beautiful--I've always gotten an 80's cartoon-y feeling from the cutscenes), the decision based gameplay, and the Norse/Viking mythology which serves as the inspiration.  Sadly, the part that I've always (and I remember it now!) not liked is the turn-based combat.  I've always found it a bit weird and never fully understood exactly how it works.  Enemies have armor and strength--armor determines how much protection they have and strength determines the power of their attacks AND also represents their total health.  Killing an enemy is a confusing mix of whittling down their armor while also making sure to go for health as well.

TBS3 has kept the same combat formula, but has also added in scenarios where you face waves of enemies.  The nice part about this feature is that you can choose to flee after you've defeated the first wave or you can stick around and try to defeat subsequent waves that include a "boss" type of enemy that could potentially award a powerful item.  It's up to you, which is handy.  For me, combat ends after the first round of enemies--I probably only have 1-2 characters still conscious, soooo better to get the heck out of dodge.

I've had a hard time starting it up and feeling motivated to play.  Luckily, I'm dedicated to seeing it out and finishing the series.  Wish me luck.