Here is a link to the PC gamer Weekender bannerlord demo on the PC gamer channel.
I think the 2016 demo was better than the current game. Here's why. Most of these details may seem small, but trust me, they can go a very long way when it comes to immersion.
2:06: Notice how much more fitting the Character creation UI is. It has a more medieval look to it, similar to the UI in Warband. I just think the weird, boxy, clean ui of the current game is not fitting, and this isn't just an issue in the character creation screen but everywhere. When you enter a village, when you speak to a lord, when you manage your inventory, it just doesn't fit in with the setting. A medieval-looking UI is just a billion times more immersive, the current ui feels like a pre-alpha stand-in for the real UI if I am being 100 percent honest.
5:52: Each settlement is represented by a line of text in the classic Warband font and color-coded. I liked this system much better than the current one. I think, for one, it gets rid of the classic Warband settlement markers that we all know and love and replaces it with the same bad UI. I think there should be, at the very least, an option to go back to Warband-style settlement markers. Especially since the map can look quite ugly if you're playing as the valandians, a red clan banner next to a green text box just doesn't look visually appealing.
6:02: Valandian lands are, well, forested. I don't know about you, but a steppe is not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of "medieval European faction". However, Valandia looks more like the khuzait khanate than other factions with forested lands. Speaking of, it seems like there isn't a single place on the world map that properly green lands.
6:30: The overworld map looks so much more detailed, you can see little paths leading out of villages, fields, hills, rock formations, and an incredible amount of detail on that mountain. What happened to this?
8:51: The character doesn't die after sustaining like 4 hits. It seems as if it's almost impossible to take out a large group of soldiers in the current, even on very easy. This wasn't an issue in Warband and wasn't an issue in this gameplay demo, I would suggest reducing damage taken on the lowest settings.
9:56: More proof that the UI was so much more medieval, visually appealing, and better back then
10:36-10:43: Look at how much better the shadows and lighting were! This could compete with some of the best AAA being released today, why was this removed?
13:47+: Towns were SO MUCH more immersive. If you walk around a town now, you will see a couple of people mindlessly walking around and a few merchants. Back then, towns had so much more life to them, they felt like living, breathing environments. You can see people of different social standings, workers carrying items, etc. There is a little bit of that in Bannerlord right now, but not nearly enough to make towns feel like environments that are really alive.
21:52: Id like to take this opportunity to mention a problem many people have with lords. They just arent unique. They feel randomly generated. Now, this man, ecerand, feels more unique than any lord I can remember from Bannerlord from my 200 hours of single-player campaigns. It's mostly due to his face, you can just tell that it feels handcrafted. Now, of course, that isn't everything. I don't know if he was truly a unique lord or not, but you should really try to improve the personalities and uniqueness of lords, taleworlds, you already nailed it in Warband. After all, why is it that some lords like Count Clias are stanned nearly as much as King Harlaus is, but hardly anyone can remember anything about Moramear Melidir?
Also, what happened to all of the music we hear in this demo. Much of it is not present in the current game. I think its really fitting, at least add it in taverns, because the 2 songs that bards play in any given tavern have gotten really tiresome.
That's all from me. I know that some of these issues seem really nitpicky, but they can go a long way in helping this game feel more like a medieval game, and most importantly, more like its predecessor.
I think the 2016 demo was better than the current game. Here's why. Most of these details may seem small, but trust me, they can go a very long way when it comes to immersion.
2:06: Notice how much more fitting the Character creation UI is. It has a more medieval look to it, similar to the UI in Warband. I just think the weird, boxy, clean ui of the current game is not fitting, and this isn't just an issue in the character creation screen but everywhere. When you enter a village, when you speak to a lord, when you manage your inventory, it just doesn't fit in with the setting. A medieval-looking UI is just a billion times more immersive, the current ui feels like a pre-alpha stand-in for the real UI if I am being 100 percent honest.
5:52: Each settlement is represented by a line of text in the classic Warband font and color-coded. I liked this system much better than the current one. I think, for one, it gets rid of the classic Warband settlement markers that we all know and love and replaces it with the same bad UI. I think there should be, at the very least, an option to go back to Warband-style settlement markers. Especially since the map can look quite ugly if you're playing as the valandians, a red clan banner next to a green text box just doesn't look visually appealing.
6:02: Valandian lands are, well, forested. I don't know about you, but a steppe is not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of "medieval European faction". However, Valandia looks more like the khuzait khanate than other factions with forested lands. Speaking of, it seems like there isn't a single place on the world map that properly green lands.
6:30: The overworld map looks so much more detailed, you can see little paths leading out of villages, fields, hills, rock formations, and an incredible amount of detail on that mountain. What happened to this?
8:51: The character doesn't die after sustaining like 4 hits. It seems as if it's almost impossible to take out a large group of soldiers in the current, even on very easy. This wasn't an issue in Warband and wasn't an issue in this gameplay demo, I would suggest reducing damage taken on the lowest settings.
9:56: More proof that the UI was so much more medieval, visually appealing, and better back then
10:36-10:43: Look at how much better the shadows and lighting were! This could compete with some of the best AAA being released today, why was this removed?
13:47+: Towns were SO MUCH more immersive. If you walk around a town now, you will see a couple of people mindlessly walking around and a few merchants. Back then, towns had so much more life to them, they felt like living, breathing environments. You can see people of different social standings, workers carrying items, etc. There is a little bit of that in Bannerlord right now, but not nearly enough to make towns feel like environments that are really alive.
21:52: Id like to take this opportunity to mention a problem many people have with lords. They just arent unique. They feel randomly generated. Now, this man, ecerand, feels more unique than any lord I can remember from Bannerlord from my 200 hours of single-player campaigns. It's mostly due to his face, you can just tell that it feels handcrafted. Now, of course, that isn't everything. I don't know if he was truly a unique lord or not, but you should really try to improve the personalities and uniqueness of lords, taleworlds, you already nailed it in Warband. After all, why is it that some lords like Count Clias are stanned nearly as much as King Harlaus is, but hardly anyone can remember anything about Moramear Melidir?
Also, what happened to all of the music we hear in this demo. Much of it is not present in the current game. I think its really fitting, at least add it in taverns, because the 2 songs that bards play in any given tavern have gotten really tiresome.
That's all from me. I know that some of these issues seem really nitpicky, but they can go a long way in helping this game feel more like a medieval game, and most importantly, more like its predecessor.
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