Since March 2020, there is one thing that seems to be pointedly correct and that is that this community has been split between two ideal's and audiences; the long-lasting long-lasted veterans of warband and previous titles and the new generation of mount & blade. Something I can whole-heartedly say, and hope I speak for most of us here, it's that the former got the very short end of the stick from what we wanted, expected and was presented to us, whereas the latter seems to be reasonably content and some actively defending the game.
This thread is mostly going to be going off my perspective of this game as a long-time warband fan and most of these are going to be similar if not identical to other threads here. For those that enjoy the game and for those that are definitely newcomer's to this genre, I hope you don't take this as an offense to you, if anything I'm glad you enjoy it and are very optimistic about it's direction and development, you probably feel what most of us felt when we played warband for the first time.
Mount & Blade: Bannerlord in the end feels like a very linear sandbox in terms of creativity and what is possible by the player and I'm dumbfounded by the information overload there is in the encyclopaedia for features when you compare to how shallow they really are when it comes to the player interaction and outcome.
I feel like Taleworld's has largely overlooked and underestimated what gave Warband that inch of satisfaction and functionality, so much so that they have been not represented in this title, yes the mechanics aren't as complex as they are in the latter, but they gave more freedom of play and importance to the player as he/she had full control of it. Thing's such as feasts, books, poem's, tournament's (warbands), lover's quest's and lord's duels etc., all while small, intertwined with each other so harmoniously in the gameplay loop of the game, not only that, it would partially solve something this game is in dire need, and that's RPG mechanics.
My biggest gripe with the game is the robotic gameplay loop that is Bannerlord compared to Warband., I remember when I first heard of the clan and influence system, it sounded great on paper and can probably still be okay, but for what it is right now it is in complete opposition of expansive roleplay idea as everything is limited to in what we wanted more of, and that is meaningful player to character relation's. This is because there are only two important values that trump anything else, influence and clan rank, you could murder a good portion of someone's family and they will hate you as in their (clan) relationship to you, but that doesn't matter because you can still do whatever you want as long as you have influence. this. totally. breaks. immersion.
In Warband you'd spend your early to late game improving relations with certain lords and deteriorating with others as a direct result of the player's actions, this was important as gathering those lord's would be essential to your future. It didn't even have to be directly by the player, because as stated above:
This brings me to my last small point, and that is pursing woman you want to marry.. This has to be the most bland, anti-fun, save-scum mechanic I have ever witnessed, you saying couple of things right or wrong at that very instance can make or break your chances in seconds, there is absolutely no element of courtship to this game and that is a massive step-back from warband where you have to put your blood, sweat and tears gradually wooing that lady over, having to fight through various ladies brother's and father's that didn't want to see you assimilated into the family, learning poem's (which had to be relatable to how the woman's personality was like) and fetching her all sorts of wine and material's as gift's and then to top it off, always arriving to visit her when she request's until your nerves almost give up. It was definitely a chore in warband. but you liked every bit of it because of it's immersion and RPG mechanics, the. woman. didn't. feel. like. a. robot. as it does in Bannerlord. you was actually satisfied as an end result, and greatly rewarded in term's of gameplay progression.
What we have now isn't a mixture of all these great thing's from other genres, but just a highly decorated open world, battle simulator strategy game and moving away from what mount & blade is/was.
I know that most of what I've said, and or haven't said isn't in "our vision of the game", but a lot of us who were dear fan's of the game's from the beginning would really, and I mean really appreciate it if you looked over these thing's again in consideration, as it is what made mount & blade, mount & blade for most of us.
As for the title, the game is good in it's own individual sense if you don't look at warband, and you can see that on the steam review's with the new player-base. but for those that are prior's.. it's just not good, and the direction it's taking (we can't be really sure because it's a mess of developer replies and lack of clear communication from the top) is bad in my opinion, and probably for most other's. and not including everything else that going on in EA Hell.
if you read this then... hey.
This thread is mostly going to be going off my perspective of this game as a long-time warband fan and most of these are going to be similar if not identical to other threads here. For those that enjoy the game and for those that are definitely newcomer's to this genre, I hope you don't take this as an offense to you, if anything I'm glad you enjoy it and are very optimistic about it's direction and development, you probably feel what most of us felt when we played warband for the first time.
Mount & Blade: Bannerlord in the end feels like a very linear sandbox in terms of creativity and what is possible by the player and I'm dumbfounded by the information overload there is in the encyclopaedia for features when you compare to how shallow they really are when it comes to the player interaction and outcome.
I feel like Taleworld's has largely overlooked and underestimated what gave Warband that inch of satisfaction and functionality, so much so that they have been not represented in this title, yes the mechanics aren't as complex as they are in the latter, but they gave more freedom of play and importance to the player as he/she had full control of it. Thing's such as feasts, books, poem's, tournament's (warbands), lover's quest's and lord's duels etc., all while small, intertwined with each other so harmoniously in the gameplay loop of the game, not only that, it would partially solve something this game is in dire need, and that's RPG mechanics.
My biggest gripe with the game is the robotic gameplay loop that is Bannerlord compared to Warband., I remember when I first heard of the clan and influence system, it sounded great on paper and can probably still be okay, but for what it is right now it is in complete opposition of expansive roleplay idea as everything is limited to in what we wanted more of, and that is meaningful player to character relation's. This is because there are only two important values that trump anything else, influence and clan rank, you could murder a good portion of someone's family and they will hate you as in their (clan) relationship to you, but that doesn't matter because you can still do whatever you want as long as you have influence. this. totally. breaks. immersion.
In Warband you'd spend your early to late game improving relations with certain lords and deteriorating with others as a direct result of the player's actions, this was important as gathering those lord's would be essential to your future. It didn't even have to be directly by the player, because as stated above:
all passively affected anonymous lord's relationships to you, little thing's just like turning up to feasts, winning in tournament's, courting a women of a family that accepts you, or doesn't accept you, fighting those lord's in return for that woman/man, spiting other lord's that were also infatuated with the lady you was courting, would win or lose your standing with them.
This brings me to my last small point, and that is pursing woman you want to marry.. This has to be the most bland, anti-fun, save-scum mechanic I have ever witnessed, you saying couple of things right or wrong at that very instance can make or break your chances in seconds, there is absolutely no element of courtship to this game and that is a massive step-back from warband where you have to put your blood, sweat and tears gradually wooing that lady over, having to fight through various ladies brother's and father's that didn't want to see you assimilated into the family, learning poem's (which had to be relatable to how the woman's personality was like) and fetching her all sorts of wine and material's as gift's and then to top it off, always arriving to visit her when she request's until your nerves almost give up. It was definitely a chore in warband. but you liked every bit of it because of it's immersion and RPG mechanics, the. woman. didn't. feel. like. a. robot. as it does in Bannerlord. you was actually satisfied as an end result, and greatly rewarded in term's of gameplay progression.
What we have now isn't a mixture of all these great thing's from other genres, but just a highly decorated open world, battle simulator strategy game and moving away from what mount & blade is/was.
I know that most of what I've said, and or haven't said isn't in "our vision of the game", but a lot of us who were dear fan's of the game's from the beginning would really, and I mean really appreciate it if you looked over these thing's again in consideration, as it is what made mount & blade, mount & blade for most of us.
As for the title, the game is good in it's own individual sense if you don't look at warband, and you can see that on the steam review's with the new player-base. but for those that are prior's.. it's just not good, and the direction it's taking (we can't be really sure because it's a mess of developer replies and lack of clear communication from the top) is bad in my opinion, and probably for most other's. and not including everything else that going on in EA Hell.
if you read this then... hey.
