guiskj
Knight
The goal of this post is to provide constructive criticism to TaleWorlds as we analyse a game that we are all obviously failry invested in. Providing this feedback is the strength of early access.
I originally posted something similar as a response to another post but thought it deserved its own thread here.
Let's first separete the discussion of feature completeness to gameplay mechanic design. EA means incomplete features and I am not looking to discuss that. I want to talk about the design behind these features and where I see major issues and areas of improvement.
Anyway, long contentious post that most people will not care for, but heck work was boring today.
I originally posted something similar as a response to another post but thought it deserved its own thread here.
Let's first separete the discussion of feature completeness to gameplay mechanic design. EA means incomplete features and I am not looking to discuss that. I want to talk about the design behind these features and where I see major issues and areas of improvement.
- Fighting (Hack/Slash play, multiplayer)
- This is the crowning jewel of Bannerlord and its most (maybe only) intrinsically fun feature currently.
- System is complete and its features are mostly complete as well. We are definitely in the balancing phase and I think it is mostly good here.
- Whether intended or not, this is Bannerlord's CORE MECHANIC and the primary source of FUN. Fighting in the midst of a large skirmish is the Essence of Bannerlord currently. This is important and will be referenced several times in this post.
- I'll anger some people here, but having a Core Mechanic with a very sharp learning curve is bad design. Bannerlord combat is very difficult to be OK at, let alone great at. This is NOT a call for simplifying it, instead I am asking TaleWorlds to look into ways to flatten the curve.
- I think the auto-block feature is great for this. Not as a replacement for being good at combat but as a learning tool allowing the player to master directional attacks before he/she has to worry about directional blocking as well. Enhance this feature by allowing players to progress from full auto-blocking to manual blocking more organically.
- Remenber, you want your ENTIRE community to be good at your game. What you have today is a fractioned community of hard-core players telling beginners to just "git gud noob".
- Tactical Warfare (Field/Siege battles, Rading, Blobbing in CK-terms)
- Intended as the true Core Mechanic, a companion to the Fighting mechanic, and a cornerstone where all other mechanics in the game intersect.
- The systems that drive this mechanic seem complete, though with missing/broken features.
- All other mechanics in your game should FEED into this one but often do not. THIS is MEANT to be your Core Mechanic but it is not currently, Fighthing is. This is because Tactical Warfare, as a mechanic, is not fun! It is a repetitive chore with little depth and your biggest Skinner Box
- War is CONSTANT and therefore, eventually, BORING. Allowing your Core Mechanic to become boring is a carnal sin of game design.
- TaleWorlds need to dig deep into this, as I can only provide my perspective. Why? Because this is the potential glue for all the other mechanics in the game. If Tactical Warfare is not FUN, Bannerlord might as well have been a Multiplayer-only title.
- Kingdom Management (Diplomacy, Marriage, Succession, etc)
- This is a large umbrella, with its internal system being almost discrete from each other.
- Diplomacy, as a system, seems complete but very feature poor. The only link back to Tactical Warfare is the Influence gain from battles and that is not enough. As a successful Warlord I should have more say, but diplomacy is heavily weighted to Clan Rank which gates the player out until late game. We need more connections from/to Tactical Warfare.
- Policies are 100% inconsequential. I have had playthroughs where my Kingdom has half of the Policies active and it feels 0% different to having none of them active. Focus on a mix of cheaper, small, Polcies that Rank 2-3 clans have more say on and a few large, Kingdom defining, policies that fundamentally change something about how the Kingdom Management system work and can add flavour to a Faction.
- Considering how Tactical Warfare is meant to be your Core Mechanic, the fact that there are 0 policies concerning War Plans is dumbfounding. A simple Policy of "We will conquer areas surrounding Sargot" or "Retake orignal fiefs" is needed, something that allows the player more agency in how his faction's NPCs conducts war.
- Marriage. Good god this is bad, your spouse is nothing more than a Companion that doubles as a baby making machine. This is FINE if the system makes this fun, but the mistake of making this a sudo-roleplaying feature devoid of any, well, roleplay is bad! I will talk more about how Bannerlord trying to be everything at once (Action Medieval Fighting game, Tactical Medieval Warfare Simulator, Medieval Roleplay game) is bad. Pick a Core and make sure that EVERYTHING else in your game supports your Core Mechanic.
- Succession. Too soon to talk about this one as it has barely been added.
- Economy
- Complex, check. Interesting, half-check. Fun, absolutely not.
- Complex is not synonymous with fun or interesting. Bannerlord economy is complex, but fails to be really interesting (it is too obscure) and fails to be any fun (it is too passive and money is meaningless)
- The player's first introduction to the Economy is with how to maintain their party wages. The answer is farming bandits and Issues, which is your second largest Skinner Box. Bad Design.
- Mid game, the players interaction with the Economy is 100% passive. Caravans are managed by companions and are on auto-pilot, Workshops are even more passive as you can at least, seldomly, save your caravan from ambushes.
- Its most problematic feature though, is that the Economy feels separate from the rest of the gameplay. Nothing really ties it back to the Core Mechanic of the game of Tactical Warfare. It doesn't even tie back to supporting mechanics such as Kingdom Management or Roleplay.
- As a very successful merchant I should be able to influence Warfare (bankrolling lord armies) and Kingdoms (supporting/bribing lords to vote for policies you want)
- So much time has been devoted to this feature by Devs that boggles my mind. Your Core Mechanic is not a Medieval Economic Simulator! Devs are spending a huge amount of time on a mechanic that is not even a source of fun for the player (as is). Games are about DOING fun things. Expectating a complex economy is not fun.
- Roleplay (Quests/Issues, Narrative, Telling a story, Leveling)
- Oh boy, my dearest topic and a point of so much sorrow.
- Village/Town Issues are terrible and allow for almost 0 roleplay due to quest structure (fixable though). Honestly they are in the same level of fetch quests in MMOs to me.
- Look at Skyrim's radiant quests. They are as shallow as fetch quests or Village Issues, but they reinforce the game's core mechanic of exploration and, therefore, are actually meaningful.
- I use that as an example to showcase that Village Issues add nothing to the game except yet another Skinner Box to fool the player into thinking the game has content.
- The world does not tell a story. There is very little sense of history or the impact of the passage of time. This is different from having a Main Quest line. Games can tell a compelling story without having a predefined narrative, just look at CK2.
- The only difference between day 1 and day 500 is that some towns/castles have changed hands...
- Bannerlord is an Action game with RPG and Tactical features sprinkled in. @mexxico got a lot of flak for saying that but he is 100% correct. So let's talk about the RPG sprinkles.
- Supporting mechanics are meant to, SUPPORT, your Core Mechanic. In Bannerlord that means Fighting and, more importantly, Tactical Warfare. The main RPG system in Bannerlord is Leveling and it is fairly problematic. Why? Because it supports Bannerlord's Core Mechanics passively.
- Look at Perks (the only consequence of leveling). The vast majority are passive and do not unlock new gameplay features for either Fighting or Tactical Warfare. This is bad design and makes Leveling POINTLESS. Remove leveling from Bannerlord currently and you loose nothing, except Bannerlord's last Skinner Box trifecta to keep you playing and grinding.
- I dislike the "everything has a price" perk for RP reasons, but at least it unlocks something, it adds new gameplay options to the Core Mechanic. We need more of these perks and less +5% Health perks.
Anyway, long contentious post that most people will not care for, but heck work was boring today.
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