Mount & Blade Genre
Sandbox titles can be inherently flawed as they contain many staples of other genres with an emphasis on free-formed gameplay, all of which are arguably under the perception of art by it's players; one may like the former rather than the latter.
Bannerlord is a title that holds a pillar on battle simulation and by choice have decided it to be their magnum opus of the genre, doing so they have deliberately constrained all other aspects of the game, why they have done this is only speculation - but my narrative on this is by the overwhelming sales and steam reviews that has encouraged it.
Bannerlord and Warband Fiasco
Whenever the game Warband is thrown around in these forums as a counter argument for Bannerlord, many do not understand why these people think the predecessor was better, and they're right, the game statistically isn't better than the later. But in order to see why this is thrown around, you must stop seeing it in black and white glasses and look inwards for the middle ground of the reasoning.
It is very much the idea of Warband that is better than Bannerlord's, because what they loved it for was behind all aspects playing an equal part to the game, roleplay, feuds, characters, companions, battles, romance and marriage. No they're not that great in Warband, but for the many this was Taleworld's chance to shine on innovating and cultivating these features on their next title, which they didn't, as they purposefully sacrificed all other characteristics of the game so everything is now revolved around battles.
I like to throw around the phrase glorified battle simulator in these forums, the game might look like mount and blade on the surface, but on the inside it is just the chef-d'œuvre of battles and other concepts that were very wanting being disparaged around the game. most evidently is the goal of marriages and companions becoming an automated statistic rather than an expansive mechanic.
The Root of the Problem
Bannerlord is a very complex game behind the curtains, but not within the hands of the player, as a sand-box title this makes the game fall flat (greatly), as the game is right now, and with the current idea that the game design directors have right now is handicapping emergent gameplay, there is a lack of tools (mechanics/features) at the players disposal to contribute towards making an interesting player driven story, it relies too much on the player to make their own fun on the notion of their own creativity.
This at its core cannot be fixed by additional content, and is an issue of the game being wholly automated by It's battle and campaign AI who have too much control on almost all aspects of the world, whereas the player has very little to non- even if you were to be the most influential person (a king). with this scarcity of dynamic and interactive AI in addition with mechanics makes the world feel unresponsive and most frightening of all, boring. (Imagine being a child on a beach playing with sand, impressive right? well now imagine you have no tools and no toys to do anything with the sand, you could run it through your fingers or maybe watch it sprinkle- but that gets old very quick as sand by itself is not much fun when compared to making castles and moulding a world in your image)
It is very cool that the current mechanics are fairly complex, but if the player cannot even engage moderately in it, then what's the point? if the player can't use it to manipulate the living and breathing sand-box world then it is nothing more than eye-candy.
Unless they lighten up the current features to be more interactable and absolutely responsive to the player, such as lords, kingdoms, bandits, caravans, settlements, and companions, whilst all working together dynamically to give actual soul to the game and lead up to more than just battles, then the game will be very mediocre no matter the additional content.
TLDR
tldr; Bannerlord will become as broad as an ocean, as shallow as a puddle on its current path, as an over-abundance of mundane additions will do very little to stimulate the larger picture for the player, with repetitive quests and battles very much getting in the way of enjoying the game, but also its true potential..
Suffice to say, developing an immersive gaming environment with an atmosphere that is both expansive and open is an enormous undertaking in a sandbox title, so for Taleworld's to aim very unambitiously is not lazy game design, it's a different approach- but its very underwhelming and fails to cultivate the current game as everything is a side-grade, with features cut from the prior at the cost of new features, and others being strictly dumbed down or barely improved.
Sandbox titles can be inherently flawed as they contain many staples of other genres with an emphasis on free-formed gameplay, all of which are arguably under the perception of art by it's players; one may like the former rather than the latter.
Bannerlord is a title that holds a pillar on battle simulation and by choice have decided it to be their magnum opus of the genre, doing so they have deliberately constrained all other aspects of the game, why they have done this is only speculation - but my narrative on this is by the overwhelming sales and steam reviews that has encouraged it.
Bannerlord and Warband Fiasco
Whenever the game Warband is thrown around in these forums as a counter argument for Bannerlord, many do not understand why these people think the predecessor was better, and they're right, the game statistically isn't better than the later. But in order to see why this is thrown around, you must stop seeing it in black and white glasses and look inwards for the middle ground of the reasoning.
It is very much the idea of Warband that is better than Bannerlord's, because what they loved it for was behind all aspects playing an equal part to the game, roleplay, feuds, characters, companions, battles, romance and marriage. No they're not that great in Warband, but for the many this was Taleworld's chance to shine on innovating and cultivating these features on their next title, which they didn't, as they purposefully sacrificed all other characteristics of the game so everything is now revolved around battles.
I like to throw around the phrase glorified battle simulator in these forums, the game might look like mount and blade on the surface, but on the inside it is just the chef-d'œuvre of battles and other concepts that were very wanting being disparaged around the game. most evidently is the goal of marriages and companions becoming an automated statistic rather than an expansive mechanic.
The Root of the Problem
Bannerlord is a very complex game behind the curtains, but not within the hands of the player, as a sand-box title this makes the game fall flat (greatly), as the game is right now, and with the current idea that the game design directors have right now is handicapping emergent gameplay, there is a lack of tools (mechanics/features) at the players disposal to contribute towards making an interesting player driven story, it relies too much on the player to make their own fun on the notion of their own creativity.
This at its core cannot be fixed by additional content, and is an issue of the game being wholly automated by It's battle and campaign AI who have too much control on almost all aspects of the world, whereas the player has very little to non- even if you were to be the most influential person (a king). with this scarcity of dynamic and interactive AI in addition with mechanics makes the world feel unresponsive and most frightening of all, boring. (Imagine being a child on a beach playing with sand, impressive right? well now imagine you have no tools and no toys to do anything with the sand, you could run it through your fingers or maybe watch it sprinkle- but that gets old very quick as sand by itself is not much fun when compared to making castles and moulding a world in your image)
It is very cool that the current mechanics are fairly complex, but if the player cannot even engage moderately in it, then what's the point? if the player can't use it to manipulate the living and breathing sand-box world then it is nothing more than eye-candy.
Unless they lighten up the current features to be more interactable and absolutely responsive to the player, such as lords, kingdoms, bandits, caravans, settlements, and companions, whilst all working together dynamically to give actual soul to the game and lead up to more than just battles, then the game will be very mediocre no matter the additional content.
TLDR
tldr; Bannerlord will become as broad as an ocean, as shallow as a puddle on its current path, as an over-abundance of mundane additions will do very little to stimulate the larger picture for the player, with repetitive quests and battles very much getting in the way of enjoying the game, but also its true potential..
Suffice to say, developing an immersive gaming environment with an atmosphere that is both expansive and open is an enormous undertaking in a sandbox title, so for Taleworld's to aim very unambitiously is not lazy game design, it's a different approach- but its very underwhelming and fails to cultivate the current game as everything is a side-grade, with features cut from the prior at the cost of new features, and others being strictly dumbed down or barely improved.