Argeus the Paladin
Grandmaster Knight
A long, long time ago in a place far, far away, I was a Pendorian. Been a king and all, because that's what hip players do, right? Due to a certain incident involving a certain board that does not warrant repeating, however, I'd sworn off Pendor and thought I'd never be back again.
Four years, many happenstances and a whole lot (as in a LOT) of growing-up to do later, I found myself accidentally dragged back into Saxondragon and the team's world again courtesy of a close friend. I am awed and amazed to find so many things has changed, for better or worse (mostly better, but we'll get to that later). So far, I've spent upward of 3000 days over the course of two RL months in three separate savegames in the New and Improved Pendor (TM) (Which has the effect of, among others, wrecking my social life and work, but that's a small price to pay).
My thoughts so far, both good and bad, are:
- Music: Some new music tracks are great (Jamaican Rum sticks out, as do Lind Erebros' Noldorin theme), some not quite so (certain generic battle themes whose name eludes me doesn't have quite the same feel as the others. Possibly a personal preference and nothing else, though).
- New troops, new factions, new items, new aesthetics, etc.:
The first thing I noticed is that there are many, many great changes and additions. New hi-res armors are a joy to behold (I'm looking at you, Full Plate Armor/Asp Armor/whatever it is that Wolfbode wears). Bearclaw Berserkers are awesome, as are the armor they wear (Though that does beg the question: If the MM barbarians have the tech necessary to make etched plate armor in the thousands, why are they barbarians again?).
At the same time, there are also many low-res armor and equipment (everything Noldor that isn't horses, the Rune Armor, Longsword or Runesword could use improvement in one way or another. The Enchanted Shield, for instance, is horribly low-res while the Noble Armor is just distorted. Same with the Jatu Lamellar. I guess that is a problem encountered during porting?)
New items are plentiful and nice to experiment with, though I guess the focus was much, much more on swords than anything else (Ebony swords of DOOM come to mind). Said Ebony, unfortunately, also means Noldor gear are more or less outclassed (Strange Ebony Saber > Noldor Rune/Longswords as I've found out. Not a good thing that they tend to be used by my enemies) I personally wouldn't mind more blunts, pierces and axes, because by mid-late game that's what you'll be using a lot of, especially blunt for obvious reasons.
KO sergeants: Love them for the most part. They add another tier of strategizing and depth to the orders, and some of them are almost too cool to live on this sinful earth (Eventide Ghilmen, for instance), though some are meh (I used to think Shadow Legion Marinae are awesome, until I took a Bearclaw Berserker in the face. Axes beat lances indeed.)
- New features: Another thing well done. I personally LOVE the minor faction sneak-attacks (If you time it right - if - it becomes easy exp for you and your folks, especially if the other guy is Wolfbode).
KHO quests make the world that much more immersive. The GM quest is the pinnacle of epic and pretty much means if you aren't shooting for aesthetics there is no reason not to deck yourself, Siggy, Freddy and maybe Kaverra in Lordly Full Plate Armor (Lordly Ebony Platemail for yourself) + Lordly Hourglass Gauntlet + Lordly Eventide Helm combo for 70+/90+.
I found CKO more questionable though, as are the Knight Commander quest. Suddenly the game becomes way easier than it should be: 100+ Order troops, free of charge, at your beck and call is more than most lord without a crown on his head can handle (aside from a few knight-killer lords - Caliph Bahman and the Vanskerry Jarl guy, and even these aren't that much likely to win). The possibility that the survivor of THAT company would join you after you win is just the icing of the cake.
That and the auto-spawn troops mean that now KO troops aren't that rare and special any more. I remember back in 3.01, I once rode with a small (as in less than a dozen) KotF and felt awesome about myself, or "Run - don't walk" at the mere sight of Syla Uzas and his immortal army of Immortals or stare in horror as Boris' Ravens single-handedly destroy my garrison with no real way of fighting back. Not the case any more when I can have more immortals than one of the scariest special spawns in all of Pendor.
Case in point: In my current game running at day 1100 I've got 200 immortals, 30 KotL and 100 SLC without anything to use them on (roleplaying a honorable, loyal Roman Cincinatus crossed with Elendil - as in 100 Noldor relation all day everyday) while I almost *never* recruit nobles aside for a certain time I spent ~8500 on 17 nobles to help kill the bloody snake stronghold. That's almost overkill for anything that isn't led by Demonic Magni, Eyegrim or Maltise: my army of 200 PMAA, 200 Immortals and 100 SLM (SLM, not SLC) tore apart the rogue Barclay general's army before the Immortals even spawn (150 Battlesize). Maybe a "No nobles, EVER" playthrough is in order?
(Oh, and just in case someone says "Now try Elacrai": It's meant to be a hopeless boss fight, and as much as I'd like to neglect my job there's a certain limit, and I'm not sure I'm willing to sacrifice the entirety of my social life trying to crack open a nut made of unobtainium-adamantium alloy containing stuff man isn't meant to know.)
Certain new Warband features also interferes with balance: For instance, Instant Noldor, Just Add Lethaldiran As Lord. Enough said. No point in gemming (People call them cabbages now, apparently?) Noldor adventurer, EVER. Speaking of which, with such a thing called ebony weapons and Noldor tourneys, there's seemingly (as in, my personal opinion) no point in runed weapons any more unless you want to make an obscenely powerful character that has one of everything under the heaven.
As a closing comment, I realize most of the things I've mentioned here may sound like either entitled whining, but I assure you they aren't: I very much appreciate the work everyone has done on the project, and am extremely glad to find that other people who weren't around back in the day continuing on it against all odds. Always have, always will. The mod is not perfect: Nothing manmade is. But this mod have always been and perhaps will continue to be the first among the imperfects and the closest to absolute flawlessness for many years to come.
Four years, many happenstances and a whole lot (as in a LOT) of growing-up to do later, I found myself accidentally dragged back into Saxondragon and the team's world again courtesy of a close friend. I am awed and amazed to find so many things has changed, for better or worse (mostly better, but we'll get to that later). So far, I've spent upward of 3000 days over the course of two RL months in three separate savegames in the New and Improved Pendor (TM) (Which has the effect of, among others, wrecking my social life and work, but that's a small price to pay).
My thoughts so far, both good and bad, are:
- Music: Some new music tracks are great (Jamaican Rum sticks out, as do Lind Erebros' Noldorin theme), some not quite so (certain generic battle themes whose name eludes me doesn't have quite the same feel as the others. Possibly a personal preference and nothing else, though).
- New troops, new factions, new items, new aesthetics, etc.:
The first thing I noticed is that there are many, many great changes and additions. New hi-res armors are a joy to behold (I'm looking at you, Full Plate Armor/Asp Armor/whatever it is that Wolfbode wears). Bearclaw Berserkers are awesome, as are the armor they wear (Though that does beg the question: If the MM barbarians have the tech necessary to make etched plate armor in the thousands, why are they barbarians again?).
At the same time, there are also many low-res armor and equipment (everything Noldor that isn't horses, the Rune Armor, Longsword or Runesword could use improvement in one way or another. The Enchanted Shield, for instance, is horribly low-res while the Noble Armor is just distorted. Same with the Jatu Lamellar. I guess that is a problem encountered during porting?)
New items are plentiful and nice to experiment with, though I guess the focus was much, much more on swords than anything else (Ebony swords of DOOM come to mind). Said Ebony, unfortunately, also means Noldor gear are more or less outclassed (Strange Ebony Saber > Noldor Rune/Longswords as I've found out. Not a good thing that they tend to be used by my enemies) I personally wouldn't mind more blunts, pierces and axes, because by mid-late game that's what you'll be using a lot of, especially blunt for obvious reasons.
KO sergeants: Love them for the most part. They add another tier of strategizing and depth to the orders, and some of them are almost too cool to live on this sinful earth (Eventide Ghilmen, for instance), though some are meh (I used to think Shadow Legion Marinae are awesome, until I took a Bearclaw Berserker in the face. Axes beat lances indeed.)
- New features: Another thing well done. I personally LOVE the minor faction sneak-attacks (If you time it right - if - it becomes easy exp for you and your folks, especially if the other guy is Wolfbode).
KHO quests make the world that much more immersive. The GM quest is the pinnacle of epic and pretty much means if you aren't shooting for aesthetics there is no reason not to deck yourself, Siggy, Freddy and maybe Kaverra in Lordly Full Plate Armor (Lordly Ebony Platemail for yourself) + Lordly Hourglass Gauntlet + Lordly Eventide Helm combo for 70+/90+.
I found CKO more questionable though, as are the Knight Commander quest. Suddenly the game becomes way easier than it should be: 100+ Order troops, free of charge, at your beck and call is more than most lord without a crown on his head can handle (aside from a few knight-killer lords - Caliph Bahman and the Vanskerry Jarl guy, and even these aren't that much likely to win). The possibility that the survivor of THAT company would join you after you win is just the icing of the cake.
That and the auto-spawn troops mean that now KO troops aren't that rare and special any more. I remember back in 3.01, I once rode with a small (as in less than a dozen) KotF and felt awesome about myself, or "Run - don't walk" at the mere sight of Syla Uzas and his immortal army of Immortals or stare in horror as Boris' Ravens single-handedly destroy my garrison with no real way of fighting back. Not the case any more when I can have more immortals than one of the scariest special spawns in all of Pendor.
Case in point: In my current game running at day 1100 I've got 200 immortals, 30 KotL and 100 SLC without anything to use them on (roleplaying a honorable, loyal Roman Cincinatus crossed with Elendil - as in 100 Noldor relation all day everyday) while I almost *never* recruit nobles aside for a certain time I spent ~8500 on 17 nobles to help kill the bloody snake stronghold. That's almost overkill for anything that isn't led by Demonic Magni, Eyegrim or Maltise: my army of 200 PMAA, 200 Immortals and 100 SLM (SLM, not SLC) tore apart the rogue Barclay general's army before the Immortals even spawn (150 Battlesize). Maybe a "No nobles, EVER" playthrough is in order?
(Oh, and just in case someone says "Now try Elacrai": It's meant to be a hopeless boss fight, and as much as I'd like to neglect my job there's a certain limit, and I'm not sure I'm willing to sacrifice the entirety of my social life trying to crack open a nut made of unobtainium-adamantium alloy containing stuff man isn't meant to know.)
Certain new Warband features also interferes with balance: For instance, Instant Noldor, Just Add Lethaldiran As Lord. Enough said. No point in gemming (People call them cabbages now, apparently?) Noldor adventurer, EVER. Speaking of which, with such a thing called ebony weapons and Noldor tourneys, there's seemingly (as in, my personal opinion) no point in runed weapons any more unless you want to make an obscenely powerful character that has one of everything under the heaven.
As a closing comment, I realize most of the things I've mentioned here may sound like either entitled whining, but I assure you they aren't: I very much appreciate the work everyone has done on the project, and am extremely glad to find that other people who weren't around back in the day continuing on it against all odds. Always have, always will. The mod is not perfect: Nothing manmade is. But this mod have always been and perhaps will continue to be the first among the imperfects and the closest to absolute flawlessness for many years to come.
oP.
