At least in 2 the combat felt a bit snappier even if it was ultimately just as inconsequential, but in 1 and 3 it becomes a real drag. I don’t think the combat has even ever been a selling point of the series for me – I was far more interested in my caravan plodding across sweeping vistas and the choices they’d have to make along the way, not a dozen guys having a ruck in a field. It outstayed its welcome very quickly and in retrospect it’s utterly unsurprising that I came to loathe it as much as I did by the end of 3.

I’ve recently thought about that series and realized that after BS2 I don’t really want BS3. I was let down both by combat and the story. The story of 2 threw a lot of filler at me – those swamp people and horse people weren’t interesting. I liked some of the villains, like that traitor mayor, but the whole thing with Raven gang leader indoctrination was almost insulting – obvious and forced. I liked few characters but I feel like interactions between them are almost non-existent.

And combat was worse. I get that it’s supposed to feel desperate. But it always felt unfulfilling. I think that’s because you don’t have to perform well. Your tactical genius doesn’t give you any better outcomes, being polite in dialogues does. You just have to struggle through the combat: I see that in 3 healing people may be a problem but it never was in 2, as even if a person is injured he has access to all his special abilities or is still tanky. They made everything so that combat feels like a speedbump, something you suffer through to get to the story. Perhaps back when the game was kickstarted we were hungry for turn-based tactical combat, but today we have a lot of it and it’s all of good quality.

Sad!