My tracking/adblocking plugins are preventing participation in voting for some reason (probably based on offsite scripts or processing), so just a personal post rather than a number up there:
Hell, no, I'm not happy about this.
I've participated in many, many EA projects. This is not one of them. There is next to no communication. Steam forums, as bad as they can get, being outright ignored assures Taleworlds operates in very much an echo-chamber bubble when it comes to feedback.
Two months out of the supposed 12 have passed, and there's... what, a new "create kingdom" button because it was a required band-aid to the unimplemented main quest? Yes, stability and genuine bug fixes take priority, but what happened about that Callum's "we can work on multiple things" post?
The original release was horribly devoid of even basic attention to detail. Perks were implemented by people with apparent no understanding of basic mathematics. "Generic background" is still back there last I checked, and don't tell me your writer(s) are busy "polishing" the engine. I've scribbled multi-page descriptions right before an unexpected change in participation for a tabletop gaming night. As a hobby, not something putting any money in my pocket.
And you could basically point at any part of the game and say exactly the same. The game started as a tech demo full of (badly implemented, if they were) placeholders, and in two months it hardly got anywhere, even considering current work-from-home situation. At this pace, we might, just might, see full balanced (and with accurate and not misspelled descriptions) perk tree in a year.
This project looks to be horribly managed, and on top of that there's absolutely no intention of engaging even their core customers on this forum (much less talking about all the wasted potential when it comes to testing and feedback that's on Steam's).
If it was still possible, at this point I'd refund. I am perfectly fine with taking a gamble on a EA project - as long as I see the desire and drive to see it end in as good a shape as possible. Not something I'm seeing in this "meh, good enough, push it out" production.
This is more like
Sector Zero (mixed up names, my bad, nothing against Sector Zero!) Star Drive EA than any of the multiple successful EA projects I supported. Bannerlord can't compare, in terms of communication and transparency in planning, even to many free-to-play PORN projects.
I guess the company got much too large to successfully keep running on the "high school hobby project" planning it seems to embrace. Certainly would think twice before paying for any future game coming from Taleworlds, but thankfully I won't live to see another regardless of Bannerlord's success, heh.
tl;dr: barebone tech demo on release, and pretty much nothing but polish and bug "fixes" (99 bugs in the code, hunt one down, compile it around, 115 bugs in the code...) accomplished after two months. One of the worst communication in any EA I've experienced. No apparent desire or drive to do much but "polish and push out" at this point from where I'm standing.
For sure, early access can last for 1 year or even more.
Other EA games either offer a genuine roadmap of what features to expect, or have an active development-community feedback loop. Especially when they have been in the making for so long.
Edited for title derp