Hey guys i've only played a Total of 4 hours of this game so this is just based on first impressions. I'm a fan of Total war and Kingdom Come deliverance so was quite excited to see a game that combined aspects of the two and was intrigued to see if it lived up to the hype. I also understand that this is early access but i'm not sure what aspects are fully finished and what needs fleshed out more
Graphics: I have everything on Max at 1440p and the game runs butter smooth for me, i find the graphics very inconsistent, buildings and some terrain detail aswell as clothing can look absolutely beautiful while character animations look similar or worse to Assassins creed 1, i'm hoping this will be much improved as it's early access and due to some aspects looking beautiful i can only hope it's going to improve in others.
Settlements and quests: The level of detail and work gone into settlement design is amazing and one can easily get lost travelling around the different towns and cities of each faction. There is just one problem, it's bare, theres nothing happening, no sound even from NPCs as there is no voice audio, they just stand around staring at each other. The developers talk about how they want to make each town and city different from each other and all i have to ask is why? All i can do i walk around trying to find the NPC that was available from the campaign mode with one click.There is no incentive for me to explore these settlements. If there was more happening perhaps i'd be inclined, more events or random encounters etc. Quests's are hit and miss for me, some don't work properly however others were fairly easy to set up. They certainly aren't the most immersive and some character audio for NPC's would be nice
Combat and Battles:This is the meat of the game so will be my longest description of how i feel about this game and have to say it doesn't disappoint in terms of combat. Basically a better version of Kingdom Come deliverance which i love, the ragdoll animations, physics, combat strategy of attack and defend direction is downright brilliant and to top it off i get to use my Xbox one controller for combat which is the icing. Watching guys get pierced with a arrow or spear thrown at time never gets old and it's quite cinematic, the combat is incredibly challenging especially when it's not 1v1 however it's also very rewarding. Now onto the battles, ok this is essentially the thing you will be doing most so i was expecting big things due to the hype especially with the combat being so immersive annnnddd i'm REALLY disappointed.
The longest battle i've had is about 1 minute. At the beginning you get a few ragtorn soldiers and so a 5v5 battle is over in mere seconds, i can accept this, there is no order or discipline fighting looters and they are easily beaten. The problem was when i upgraded my units to heavy Armour and took on professional soldiers in 20v20 and up to 40v40 it was the EXACT same. Literally every battle i've had plays the same, you start facing your opponent, you have to give an order before they charge head on into you because they do that EVERY time and thats it. There is no strategy to this game as it's just charge and swing wildly out of formation and hope for the best. Now again i know this is early access but the fact this got through beta has me worried that perhaps this is what fans have been enjoying this whole time, perhaps it's me, that the game just isn't meant for me because i'm sorry to say but after 30 battles of the exact same thing being over in 30 seconds to a minute it's boring. Armour units shouldn't drop as easily as ragtorn units should with no armour and units should be fighting in a formation line rather than like barbarians.
Is this what warband was like? This game has SO much potential but i'm not sure what it is you guys expect to experience as i a have read all the reviews that say this game is amazing as it is and more than what you asked for which makes me wonder is this what battles are expected to play like? As a new player i don't know whats unfinished and whats fully completed. I really like contributing in battles and i find by the time i get off my horse and try to get into the battle i maybe get one swing in before all the others enemies are dead. In 500v500 battles i've tried in a custom battle it was a bit longer but not by much so got to kill a a few guys. I don't know, maybe it's me but battles are where this game should be at and right now it's a disaster. Will this be improved or is this pretty much what one can expect from mount and blade battles?
Graphics: I have everything on Max at 1440p and the game runs butter smooth for me, i find the graphics very inconsistent, buildings and some terrain detail aswell as clothing can look absolutely beautiful while character animations look similar or worse to Assassins creed 1, i'm hoping this will be much improved as it's early access and due to some aspects looking beautiful i can only hope it's going to improve in others.
Settlements and quests: The level of detail and work gone into settlement design is amazing and one can easily get lost travelling around the different towns and cities of each faction. There is just one problem, it's bare, theres nothing happening, no sound even from NPCs as there is no voice audio, they just stand around staring at each other. The developers talk about how they want to make each town and city different from each other and all i have to ask is why? All i can do i walk around trying to find the NPC that was available from the campaign mode with one click.There is no incentive for me to explore these settlements. If there was more happening perhaps i'd be inclined, more events or random encounters etc. Quests's are hit and miss for me, some don't work properly however others were fairly easy to set up. They certainly aren't the most immersive and some character audio for NPC's would be nice
Combat and Battles:This is the meat of the game so will be my longest description of how i feel about this game and have to say it doesn't disappoint in terms of combat. Basically a better version of Kingdom Come deliverance which i love, the ragdoll animations, physics, combat strategy of attack and defend direction is downright brilliant and to top it off i get to use my Xbox one controller for combat which is the icing. Watching guys get pierced with a arrow or spear thrown at time never gets old and it's quite cinematic, the combat is incredibly challenging especially when it's not 1v1 however it's also very rewarding. Now onto the battles, ok this is essentially the thing you will be doing most so i was expecting big things due to the hype especially with the combat being so immersive annnnddd i'm REALLY disappointed.
The longest battle i've had is about 1 minute. At the beginning you get a few ragtorn soldiers and so a 5v5 battle is over in mere seconds, i can accept this, there is no order or discipline fighting looters and they are easily beaten. The problem was when i upgraded my units to heavy Armour and took on professional soldiers in 20v20 and up to 40v40 it was the EXACT same. Literally every battle i've had plays the same, you start facing your opponent, you have to give an order before they charge head on into you because they do that EVERY time and thats it. There is no strategy to this game as it's just charge and swing wildly out of formation and hope for the best. Now again i know this is early access but the fact this got through beta has me worried that perhaps this is what fans have been enjoying this whole time, perhaps it's me, that the game just isn't meant for me because i'm sorry to say but after 30 battles of the exact same thing being over in 30 seconds to a minute it's boring. Armour units shouldn't drop as easily as ragtorn units should with no armour and units should be fighting in a formation line rather than like barbarians.
Is this what warband was like? This game has SO much potential but i'm not sure what it is you guys expect to experience as i a have read all the reviews that say this game is amazing as it is and more than what you asked for which makes me wonder is this what battles are expected to play like? As a new player i don't know whats unfinished and whats fully completed. I really like contributing in battles and i find by the time i get off my horse and try to get into the battle i maybe get one swing in before all the others enemies are dead. In 500v500 battles i've tried in a custom battle it was a bit longer but not by much so got to kill a a few guys. I don't know, maybe it's me but battles are where this game should be at and right now it's a disaster. Will this be improved or is this pretty much what one can expect from mount and blade battles?
