I simply disagree, Warband's a good game for it's time and a ground-breaking innovation to the industry as a whole. It somehow originated: Chivalry, War of the Roses, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Mordhau, etc.
It also showed how mods can completely transform a game, all their DLC for Warband's actually done in the same ground as mods are, so Viking Conquest's simply a mod for Warband with a few engine updates. Seriously, they hold all the cards to make yet another ground-breaking change with BL but to do so they must step up and at bare minimum provide a improved experience under the same grounds as Warband did. It's still worth as a game and I'd buy it again no questions asked, BL on the other hand I've been skeptical since 2014 about, gave them a shot when the EA was released, kept giving as much feedback as I could to try and help shape it, but ultimately just gave up because I don't believe any of my feedback was ever read / listened, so now I'm back just to shrug boredom off, but if 1.8 stable doesn't cut it (because make no err, I'm modding the crap out of the game, that's why I'm doing 1.7.2 atm) I'll be off again for god knows how long (last break I took was almost 2 years straight with 2 weeks of playing in 2021).
I hope they do whatever it takes to make this game good, be it delaying it for 10 more years or making another engine, I don't care how long it takes at this point, just that it be good.
Sorry, i was a little bit too mucha anger. But yes, it's not a bad game, Warband, i liked it too much for the same reason as you.
To return to Bannerlord:
I tested the 1.8.0. I didn't play since 2020. I admet 1.8.0 is very stable in comparaison with the first. And many new details are interesting.
I tested a second time "Land of Sika", i stopped, but that seems a very good mod. But I don't have the patience to play long games anymore.
I play dumb games in "sandbox" with "dumb" mods just for fun.
Mod "Fourberie" (Roguery) :
I tried the "fourberie" mod (
https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/2969). This mod allows to have a kind of "base" in a "hideout". It allows a certain number of small actions (assassination, blackmail, etc.). It's a good idea but there would be a lot to "fix" or "improve" or "simplify".
This mod also allows you to make an "army of bandits" by ordering troops of bandits to join your own group. It's not bad, but it often bugs after a fight.
This mod allows progression in a "bandit career" with specific actions that gradually open up.
There is a really good idea, and I thought it could be advantageously added to the native version by correcting it and simplifying certain aspects that are a little wobbly.
Add to the native version, we would thus have the possibility of having a "Role Play" bandits if however we added some "npc" dialogues and a "career bandits" modality.
Version 1.8.0 of this "Roguery" mod is functional. I don't know if the developers of TW are in contact with the modders developing it, but I find this mod promising provided it is made a little more "hergonomically" pretty.
I think this is a good mod for someone who would like to start Bannerlord with a bandit/mercenary career.
There are a few things to clear up in this mod because the impact of our bandit actions on our relationship with a "Target Realm" isn't always explicit. Perhaps because it is still poorly integrated into the whole process.
There would probably be some balancing work to be done.
This mod deserves the design of a tutorial, but I know, it's complicated to do.
But I find this mod promising.
I have a proposal to make for "Roguery" mod. I know it is probably not easy to implement.
- "Roguery" offers to earn some money by having servants and slaves. Ideally, it would be nice if the mod offered a choice: "Do you want to be a slaver or fight slavery (slightly reminiscent of "Land of Sika"). If so, the player has a permanent "charm" penalty and becomes "Cruel" and "manipulative", and gets a significant bonus in Roguery. If not, the player has a permanent and significant bonus in "charm" and becomes "honest" and "generous".
Other consequences, if the player chooses "yes": the "slave" function is blocked, but he obtains a compensating bonus in the "trade" line and a bonus on the "vanilla market" prices. (Ideally, it should be possible to employ "free workers" instead of the "slave" function. The Hideout would then be transformed into a sort of Robin Hood village).
On the other hand, if the player chooses "no": the "slave" function is open and he has a small "trade" malus but obtains a bonus on the "black market" but none on the "vanilla market".
Ideally, if we choose "yes", we would become the target of "soft-hearted" Nobles (generous, honest traits...) and our hero could more easily be executed if he is imprisoned. On the other hand, if we choose to be "anti-slavery", we would be more the target of nobles with "hard hearts" (cruel, dishonest), and we could be executed by them if we are a prisoner. .
The mod's conspiracy functions would not change.
Still "ideally", it would be great if we could have several "hideout" bases, one in each "bandit faction". This would allow you to play totally bandits for a whole game for fun.
I tested "Improved Garrison":
I did not like. The first reason: it has hardly ever served me.
The second reason: I had a problem with limiting garrison expenses. I could no longer pay these expenses. Did I make a mistake? Bannerlord's built-in system for limiting garrison spending no longer worked.
I find it too complicated with too many functions that are useless to me.
I tested "Improved Garrison":
I did not like. The first reason: it has hardly ever served me.
The second reason: I had a problem with limiting garrison expenses. I could no longer pay these expenses. Did I make a mistake? Bannerlord's built-in system for limiting garrison spending no longer worked.
I find it too complicated with too many functions that are useless to me.
I tested "recruit everyone":
I like the idea of being able to recruit anyone, as a companion, in the tavern or on the street. However, the problem is the recruited companion's stats. All companions recruited with this system have the same starting stats with a few points to distribute.
Ideally, there should be npc whose statistics correspond to their job, for example:
- the waitress of the tavern: a higher "charm", "trade", "stewardship" statistic,
- the owner of the tavern: a higher "trade" statistic.
- a Vlander citizen: a slightly higher "smithing" stat, a good "crossbow" or "pike" stat...
- a "merchant": a good trade stat essentially,
- etc.
+ the bonus points to distribute.
I think this "mod" brings a "Role Play" dimension to the game. Recruitable NPcs as well, it would be interesting to offer them "special companion" dialogues. Example :
- a recruited tavern waitress: "What I don't like about men is that they think they can do anything. A former waitress tells you, a drunk and vulgar man is an understatement. "
"Would you like me to make you taste what I have found lately during our travels, a magnificent wine!"
"I had to do many jobs in my female dog of life, but I admit that since I met you, everything has changed."
etc
"I worked in a tavern in "Lycaron", I never saw worse customers than the rich customers of the Empire. They don't respect anything, not even their wives."
etc
Small randomized dialogues (appearance only once, otherwise it becomes spam).
I don't know what could "provoke the dialogue": perhaps parking in a city, when you are "waiting", it would be the best.
This mod works pretty well.
I paired it with: Unlimited CAP
This mod allows you to recruit as many companions as you want. I don't recommend it. It was just for fun. But I think it destabilizes the game because you no longer respect the speed of progression. (You can recruit many companions from the start, it is the player who sets the number in the options). Why not ? But as a result, there are no longer any rules and it can quickly become destabilizing. The cost of companions can ruin the novice player very quickly and discourage him.
On the other hand, I can't see this mod in a native version because it breaks all the rules of progression.
But otherwise, in a "sandbox" game, it allows to have an infinite number of companions, which could be fun, if indeed the companions each brought a lot of "RolePlay" interactions.
The biggest gaps in rpg mods:
The biggest lack in this game is indeed the lack of "Roleplay", "inteactions fun with npcs", features of the companions.
I don't understand why modders aren't doing anything to change that. I find a lot of silly and useless mods, and nothing for the RPG of companions, lords, and other npcs.
Too many mods just for the "aesthetic" side, but not enough for the "rpg", "interactions", dialogs side. There are absolutely no mods that add really fun dialogues to companions, in particular, but also to every possible npc.
What i imagine :
It is true that these dialogues could weigh down the game with unnecessary interactions.
More reasons to make an effort to write, these interactions must be fun. If in addition, they trigger actions, or an interesting "quest", then it's the icing on the cake. But I understand that it is complicated.
It must not be repetitive, each npc should have a specific dialogue, they must be randomized without being repetitive, they sometimes also bring new features to the gameplay (an action: a fight for example to save a companion of an attempted murder, or, a party that ends badly in a tavern with a fight, or even participating in revenge by killing a slave trader, or even finding the parents of a companion in a village where, for RP reasons, he will be badly received, forcing us to fight against the villagers, etc.), deliver a relative from the companion in a hiding place of bandits,
I'd rather see these "interactive" companions and npc's brought into the game in a slow, incremental way so everyone gets deeply worked on. Better to work hard on a single companion for weeks on good dialogue and good dialogue-related events, than to have a lot of them in series haphazardly.
search for a treasure lost by a companion by looking for clues everywhere, from stage to stage, with fights on the road, fights, battles to be won to pass the next stage, until finally finding the "right map".
It would be interesting if these "Role play" events were automatically noted in a role play "logbook". But that is in the realm of dreams. Yet such a logbook would be structuring.
However, such a logbook would be structuring because each "Role play" novelty would have to be integrated into the logbook.
Example: start of a new roleplay interaction with an important "npc": the logbook is triggered and registered:
"Today I recruited a new companion to my troop. He told me about a strange affair. He is said to have amassed a fortune in recent years, but I suspect he was involved in dark conspiracies. He maintains that X stole his share of the loot from him. I don't know if I should trust him, but, my curiosity outweighs reason." New Quest : *First clue* find "X" in Lycaron at the market and interrogate him.
etc
Integrate small rpg games and "big boss" to kill:
"You find a coded message. To find the code, you have to beat X at Y's game at Z's tavern. If you beat him, you will have the code.
Obviously, there, it becomes more complex to develop.
But these are the kind of elements that would make the game more "alive".
So with a puzzle system, it would be possible to get to the end of fairly complex and entertaining investigations if they are well written.
Poorly written Role Plays tire quickly. Better one RP character with one well-written plot than many poorly written characters.
Then, from year to year, it would be a question of enriching the play of new characters Role Play interesting and well written.
For that, we would have to find the simplest possible procedure so that motivated modders can write "Role Play" stories with a simple tool. Even if there are fewer integrated actions possible, but good plots.
And I forgot the essential "big boss" that must be beaten at some point while respecting certain constraints to pass the next stage of a story or to finish a story..." An RPG...
And there should have been all the originality of this game:
The big boss to defeat is not a "monster", but a "special" armed troop with exceptional statistics. So we ourselves would have to prepare a suitable troop to defeat them. Even if it means having to try several times before managing to have the troop that works.
Killing this type of "boss in an armed troop" should be the originality of this game.
I remove my nasty and useless remarks, sorry, friends sometimes take over the keyboard...