Bannerlord is mis-advertised by the devs on Steam (yes, even taking into account Early Access)

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My feedback's been positive. What are these tonnes of problems?

battania_village_j_winter map has particle problems.
In some rare cases, the Hideout Boss party might go missing.
Bannerlord icon does not appear on the taskbar after launcher got closed.
Using balista sometimes can show wrong animations for the user.
The wrong number might be shown when prisoner ransoming.
When we talk with NPC named Tacteos in the tutorial, he can be taken as a prisoner.
Some of the sliders does not have text inputs.
Some banner icons are incorrect in the banner selection screen.
Combat AI difficulty settings will be added to character creation difficulty tab.
Sometime, when after loading a campaign save, UI might show different names.
Particles can bug out when player changes an option and hits done.
Weaponsmith animation has issues.
Scene bugs for vlandia_dungean_a.
Some texts and some variables are still missing from the game.
Loading a save file resets the party troop formations.
Some of the torches are not lit at night on empire_village_003 map.
Training for Retainers quest not ending because some of the troops are dead. This is not the intended design.
Some of the character creation child animations are bugged.
Some of the villages have spawn points problems.
Shop labels might be shown as duplicate.
Defend wall behaviour on AI has problems.
Borrowed troops are counting in party size. This is not the intended design.
In Rival Gang Quest, vlandia_town_a loads as it is in Siege.
Aserai faction bonus doesn't affect every caravan.
Rarely, debacle shout triggers indefinitely.
Villiage of Armonac has wrong production icon on campaign map.
Stuttering camera movement on Campaign Map.
Some of the troop skills are unfinished.
There are some problems with smithing ingredients.
The prices in stores sometimes can be very much off from the value of items.
While attacking a hideout if you hit F7 for transfer troops and then accept. you can't lead any of your troops anymore. (No troops under your command)
Some of the sea parts of the campaign map is accesible. This should not be happening.
Can't reassign or unassign a key that's already assigned.
Main character is not rendered with some tattoos
Player shouting "Infantry!" to cavalry formations with a companion
You cannot recruit Aserai Recruits from Aserai Settlements
AI sometimes can not find a settlement to patrol
Some weapons can be shown as twohanders twice in UI.
Issues regarding rival gang issue is known.
Intel GPUs sometimes shows wrong memory ammount in the performance tab.
If you open "Donate prisoners" from settlement menu before making your companion handles Rival Gang Moving issue, party screen will only show prisoners. Opening "Donate Troops" screen from settlement menu and re-taking the issue should fix the problem.
If you make your companion handles the Nearby Bandit Base issue, the gold amount that you gain after the quest may not be shown in the notifications which are placed at the left-bottom of the screen
Sometimes lord parties decrease to 0 soldiers with financlai problems.
While taking the Escort Caravan quest, you may not see the possible reward in the conversation text.
Sometimes, after loading save, crossing swords might not disappear on the campaign map
Some objects may be misplaced in the air in some Vlandian towns.
Food consumption problem causes party stuck
You may see some harnesses' reins are not holded by player.
Vlandia culture boardgame has broken visuals.
Main Hero and his brother's ages in the logs are not logical.
Battle_terrain_021 scene has issues on winter season
Voting relation effects were not applied fix
No mercenary leave option on lords
Char creation name resets everytime that screen opens
Companions should be shown be shown in civil equiiments on thumbnails
Cant sit on the throne in empire_caslte_keep_a_l2_interior scene.
Cant sit on the throne in empire_caslte_keep_a_l1_interior scene.
Cant sit on the throne in empire_caslte_keep_a_l3_interior scene.
When player captured sometimes his army is not disbanded
Train Troop and Rival Gang bug
battania_noble_bracers and battania_warlord_bracers can shine absurdly.
Sometimes siege defenders can be aggressive.
Caravan party should avoid attacks and get cover if enemy is harrasing the party with missiles
Clipping issues on child and youth civilian costumes
Lighting quality setting in Medium is better than low
Khuzait darkhan looks weird in party screen
Traders should stand behind the table
Facekey range of the bodyguards should be increased
Companions that create army exceed the party size limit which causes his troops to desert constantly.
Banner on the settlement menu does not get updated after the settlement is taken by other faction
Lance flips like a javelin
Wrong menu appears after militia fight in village raid
If we decide to change side in the quest Rival Gang Moving In, our troops does not change side with us.
Even after peace through barter, lords may declare war on the player. This is not the intened design.
Kingdom we create is not shown on Kingdom tab of the encyclopedia. This will be fixed.
On Battle Scoreboards, sometimes companions are stated as killed while they did not get killed. This issue is under investigation.
Sneak into town menu texts will be updated.
Sometimes corpses can stay afloat if the surface is destroyed by fire pots.
Spamming the raid village button continuously reduces relation each time, should reduce only once.
Wrong menu shows up when the ai controlled army decides to enter a settlement.
Clan banner does not get updated after the clan tier reaches level 2.
Red water lightings on the Radagos' hideout are known.
If player changes troop formation classes, the tooltips will be wrong.
If both parties are wounded and has 0 battle ready untis, wrong encounter menu shows up.
Some of the crafting pieces' price are higher than the weapon itself.
Minor Factions does not get a new leader when their leader gets killed
Some beards/hair won't render on thumbnails
Looter parties look too old
Wrong barter option comes up when in a besieged settlement and in a parley.
Defection persuasion refers to self as clan leader.
Companion clothing changes colour depending on the map area
Roguery not leveling up when recruiting looters and sea raiders
Fur_hat model alpha value is wrong.
Sitting on log animation is not working properly.
Production change option is visible when the player is buying a workshop.
The text colour of the wanderers in the taverns are changing in relation to the town colour.
Army parties might join battles without their leaders if the player leaves the engagement.
Sometimes formations standstill and don't attack anymore.
Companions stuck in a lost castle after enemy captures our castle and declares peace.
Bribery dialogue does not open when you speak to the lord's hall guard.
Prison Guards are disappearing when entering and exiting an interior scene in a town.
Sitting ground idles upper body, playing wrong animations.
Parties in the hideouts contribute to other bandit parties' combat strength on the campaign map.
There are two Aserai villages named 'Aiwalitas' in the game.
Making peace is cheaper than safe passage, this is not the intended design.
dress_with_overall costume has stretching problems.
High tier weapons can't be found in towns.
Trait levelling doesn't work properly
Encyclopedia sometimes shows wrong information regarding companions.
Some of the ladies in the encyclopedia has wrong information.
Player can gift empty barters to other lords
Notification is missing when prisoner lord/lady escapes from our party
Sea_bandit_a scene reflects red light on armor and weapons at night.
If we lose fight in combat tutorial and leave the area our hitpoint wont be recovered.
Caravans have infinite gold when we re-open trade through conversation.
Army members sometimes does not help other army's ongoing siege.
Companions sometimes leave map when sent to quest and disappear.
Hero parties joins to the enemy parties when attacking looters
Agent's destination path is set wrong in family feud quest
Companion's party constantly loses morale except we take him to our army
The game may rarely crash when giving a settlement to a minor faction.
The game may rarely crash when loaded a save from a previous version and interact in the world map.
Releasing captures through “-” icon in the troop interface would cause such lord NPC to disappear.
The game may rarely crash when talking about mercenary contracts
The game may rarely crash when entering a town.
The game may rarely crash when selecting escaping from the battle option.
The game may rarely crash when creating an army.
The game may rarely crash when moving around the map.
The game can crash if a wrong banner key is pasted in the banner editor.
The game may rarely crash when entering the encounter menu when in a settlement.
The game can rarely crash randomly in a battle.
Game crashes if a player goes to a hideout right after leaving a neutral besieged castle wrong menu shows up
The game may rarely crash when besieging a castle
The game can crash when quitting the game.
The game can crash when pasting face code in Character creation.
The game can crash when quitting the game.
You may crash according to the income calculations.
The game can crash when selecting leading an assault option.
After alt+tab, clicking anywhere on barter screen cancels the barter. This could lead to a crash when you try to start barter again.
If a quest village is being raided while you are waiting there for a quest, the game may crash.
The game can crash when the player tries to reopen any text field UIs.
The game can crash when exiting the game while calling for a UI element
The game can crash when removing a troop from a party.
The game can crash when on persuasion
The game can rarely crash when doing save load operations.
The game can rarely crash on campaign map because of an out of order tick on conversations.
The game may crash on party screen while upgrading or transferring troops.
The game can crash when clicked reset all on character creation.
The game may crash on The Spy Among Us quest.
The game can crash after clicking done on the scoreboard after battle.
The game can crash when a GPU device initializes resources.
The game can crash when changing graphic settings.
The game may rarely crash when changing the graphics settings.
The game can crash after clicking done on the scoreboard after the battle.
The game can crash when compiling shaders.
Sometimes in rare cases changing the language of the game several times can crash the game when joining the matchmaker.
If there is a battle that is not finalized validly, the game might crash on the next conversation.
The game might rarely crash when the players are defeated in the Locate and Rescue Traveller Tutorial quest
The game might rarely crash when the players are taking the Army of Poachers quest.
The game might rarely crash when the player is talking with an army member after a sally out encounter.
 
We all know it's "Early Access", but at the moment, TW are not living up to their own advertised blurb on the Steam page of a: "stable experience where you may encounter obscure bugs". https://store.steampowered.com/app/261550/Mount__Blade_II_Bannerlord/



So lets analyze this statement... "very much stable and playable and players can expect to run into obscure bugs"? That is blatant mis-advertisement. This game suffers from MANY obvious bugs that affect core gameplay. Many features are also broken or missing and crashes are frequent for many people. The most recent patch also broke the game for many people.

This mis-advertisement of the game opens them up to potential legal issues and would certainly justify refund requests after the usual Steam period has expired. Even if a game is sold as "Early Access", to charge pretty much a full price for a game in this state, knowing that many people will buy it regardless as they are die-hard Warband fans and also because many reviewers and Youtubers re hyping it to hell and back, is in my view cynical and bordering on unethical.

For the record, I do like this game and am excited at the potential of it... but I will wait for a few more big patches before investing more time into it due to the very rough state it is in.

Prepare your back door for a siege by the troll fanboi vanguard and late to the game forum moderation to lock down the dissent.

I totally agree that this game could be great, but its currently a sad joke. Early access is not an excuse to put out half functioning material, its what used to be referred to as a 'demo' of your game. It can be a tiny portion of the game, but its workmanship should show the intended quality of the full game.

TW needs to hire devs and put them on hotfixes a month ago. I don't mind playing an incomplete game, but this isn't even working for me.

After sleeping on it last night im going to, cheese it to win from my patch corrupted save game (5th bugged/broken/corrupted attempt to play through - no mods), then put this on the shelf to play again when private mod developers have fixed it. This will be the last title I purchase from TW, this is purely unprofessional from the content release manager(s).
 
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I guess you were an employee where you worked, if you owned the company you would know that this level of "Early Access" in a normal situation wold be unacceptable and you would have lots of returns AND possibly claims with the consumer associations.
Assuming off course you would have respect for your clients, pride in your work and care for quality.
Otherwise, this level is good enough...
Can I put a big
CITATION NEEDED
 
Prepare your back door for a siege by the troll fanboi vanguard and late to the game forum moderation to lock down the dissent.

I totally agree that this game could be great, but its currently a sad joke. Early access is not an excuse to put out half functioning material, its what used to be referred to as a 'demo' of your game. It can be a tiny portion of the game, but its workmanship should show the intended quality of the full game.

TW needs to hire devs and put them on hotfixes a month ago. I don't mind playing an incomplete game, but this isn't even working for me.

After sleeping on it last night im going to, cheese it to win from my patch corrupted save game (5th bugged/broken/corrupted attempt to play through - no mods), then put this on the shelf to play again when private mod developers have fixed it. This will be the last title I purchase from TW, this is purely unprofessional from the content release manager(s).
Yep you hit the nail on the head. Early Access in this case was unethical. TE knew that that they were releasing a game in a woefully inadequate state of development, worse than they had previously communicated and given impressions of, and used Early Access to take advantage of eager gamers who they knew would not be able to resist buying it even at close to full price.

Rarlg Access needs to be reassessed by Steam and controls out in place to stop unscrupulous developers from abusing this system.
 
180 hours in. I have had roughly 2 crashes. I did have it go weird and slow a few times where I couldn't pinpoint anything unusual that I haven't done before or any parts bottlenecking it.

I've played some non-early access games with more crashes.

I do play the stable branch though and not the beta. There are a lot of bugs and unfinished items. It seems reasonable for the expectation.
 
This game as an EA is so shallow. Don't get me wrong I enjoy it even after many hours but boy.. In my opinion they had should wait 1 year before even considering to release it EA. It's bare bones with maybe after all those patches socks on. I am even not sure if they understand where they "want to go". Sometimes they change values in patches so intense that the whole economy makes a twist. (even if I am not quite sure if it's really that dynamic)

They are not sure, how prices of goods should be handled, how the time and progress should be altered because in the End this game should have some dynasty feeling and deaths. So you will maybe play as your son and your grandson etc.

But for now in less than one lifetime your a rich *****, and from zero to hero. The solution at the moment of the developers is to raise the price for weapons, change the drop of battles, change the gains of different values. That let me wonder while in brainstorming phase how they thought this system will be in the first place.

Hopefully they didn't just put fancy words on the wall with a big circle and have no clue how it comes together in the End. For me, this will be the first and last game I bought from TW in early access because my fault I gave them a thrust credit which seem to be a mistake.

But I am sure that in the long run the community aka modders will turn the table around when the devs manage to get bannerlord in the release version.
 
180 hours in. I have had roughly 2 crashes. I did have it go weird and slow a few times where I couldn't pinpoint anything unusual that I haven't done before or any parts bottlenecking it.

I've played some non-early access games with more crashes.

I do play the stable branch though and not the beta. There are a lot of bugs and unfinished items. It seems reasonable for the expectation.
you know, rigs are different, if you didn't experience a problem it means absolutely nothing.


Many released games have far bigger issues than that list. In game development there are always bugs and it's near impossible to fix them all.
For early access, the issues are perfectly normal and ordinary.
ed9.jpg
 
When I heard they were going to publish an EA I could not believe, but as I respected TW big time, I was skeptical, but hoped for the best having a certain level of expectations..
Turns out they are going the Bethesda way AND, like Bethesda, they are backed up by flocks of fans who will blindly buy and defend anything thrown at them.

I am not saying I was cheated, I say that TW behaved in an extremely unprofessional way, maybe your quality and professionalism standards are much lower then mine, but I gave them good money and they did not deliver and "EA" with just "obscure bugs" to find...they delivered a broken skeleton of a game and this is a smack in the face to the old timers.
Why was it so hard to believe they would make an EA game? Did you ever hear of Mount&Blade ? Guess what, that started out as EA aswell.

If you really are an "old timer" as you said you would know such basic information.

My time is worth more than bugfixing and playtesting for free for a multi-million dollar company that has got itself into this situation through what are presumably a combination of bad development practises and bad communication and PR skills. We all know what Early Access means, but I think that many people were expecting this particular game, given the hype and development time, to be further along in progress and more stable and closer to completion than it is now. If you look at the content that is broken or missing it seems around 60-70% finished. That doesn't mean it isn't "playable" and the core of the game seems good (we all love the battles, despite AI issues), but do you really want to invest hundreds of hours burning yourself out by playtesting an incomplete game? To me that's not even logical unless you REALLY have nothing better to do in your gaming or private life.

You say your time is worth more than bugfixing and playtesting, but you still bought into an EA which is essentially that just to be able to play earlier and then complain about it ?


Obviously not everyone knows what EA means, and it can be different for every EA title, they clearly stated what would be incomplete and missing, and they delivered exactly on that promise.

I've already spend more than 100 hours on 1 campaign, about to start another one to see all the changes in full effect since i still had this save since day 1.
To me that's not even logical unless you REALLY have nothing better to do in your gaming or private life.

Lockdown.

And i dont see how you are capable of deciding how anyone should spend their time when you are complaining about an EA game for being... EA despite most flaws and missing features listed on the store page.
 
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Yep you hit the nail on the head. Early Access in this case was unethical. TE knew that that they were releasing a game in a woefully inadequate state of development, worse than they had previously communicated and given impressions of, and used Early Access to take advantage of eager gamers who they knew would not be able to resist buying it even at close to full price.

Rarlg Access needs to be reassessed by Steam and controls out in place to stop unscrupulous developers from abusing this system.

I am still amazed seeing people complaining that they are not happy with an EA game. I share your opinion that it needs to be improved but let me highligt the early access definition on steam.
Get immediate access to games that are being developed with the community's involvement. These are games that evolve as you play them, as you give feedback, and as the developers update and add content.

So based on your bug reports they fix them. Based on your constructive feedback they may consider it and decide whether it will fit to their development plan or no. Overall the game will evolve and doing the above means you can be part of it.
 
I wonder how these peoples crying about the EA state of bannerlord would have react if they had to play games like Stonehearth or Legend of Ellaria in their early " early access " state.

Ho boy. ╹◡╹

The comparison is irrelevant with these games but holy cow, i would have payed just to saw their faces.
Bannerlord is actualy a pretty good game. Unfinished, that's all.
He will be in time.
 
I am still amazed seeing people complaining that they are not happy with an EA game. I share your opinion that it needs to be improved but let me highligt the early access definition on steam.
Get immediate access to games that are being developed with the community's involvement. These are games that evolve as you play them, as you give feedback, and as the developers update and add content.

So based on your bug reports they fix them. Based on your constructive feedback they may consider it and decide whether it will fit to their development plan or no. Overall the game will evolve and doing the above means you can be part of it.

Here is my +1
But don't lose time with explanation bud.
Cognitive dissonance is their own weakness.

If you buy into an ea, it's for helping dev with alpha/beta testing, bug report.
You essentialy pay to be a tester but with the motivation you could greatly enhanced the potential of the game.
It's not like random beta tester who will never talk with other people on a public game forum.

Game is crashing ? Post a crash report with the most information possible.
a bug ? do exactly like the crash report.

You've got suggestions or balancing idea ? Should i repeat it again ? :grin:

But anyway, this is pointless, there is nothing to be done about people lying to themself and blinding themself with their anger. They can't even realize, not their fault.

Cognitive dissonance.

Sorry for my bad english. Have a nice day guyz ╹◡╹
 
Yep you hit the nail on the head. Early Access in this case was unethical. TE knew that that they were releasing a game in a woefully inadequate state of development, worse than they had previously communicated and given impressions of, and used Early Access to take advantage of eager gamers who they knew would not be able to resist buying it even at close to full price.

Rarlg Access needs to be reassessed by Steam and controls out in place to stop unscrupulous developers from abusing this system.
Don't get me wrong but booze and p***y require paydays, not releasing it at its current state at this current period might have been riskier than releasing it now. My 2 cents
 
you know, rigs are different, if you didn't experience a problem it means absolutely nothing.



ed9.jpg

Why do you resort to ad hominem attacks? Why not just address his arguments?


Anyways, some people obviously do not understand what EA is or refuse the reality of it. They came in with a perceived notion and do not understand why some of the caveats are written by Steam to be intentionally vague and all-encompassing.

STOP buying and playing EA games. Many are obviously overwhelmed by the disparity between EA and a 1.0 official release
 
'Early' 'Access'

You're paying to play the game in it's current state, bugs, missing features, crashes and all.

If you can't handle that or don't like the practice, then don't buy EA games.

Buying the game and then complaining does absolutely nothing for your cause.
 
I remember reading PC GAMER over 20 years ago. Was a great magazine. These media companies now sell sensationalism though. They live on clicks in this internet age. PC GAMER, other gamer focused media companies and youtube personalities are largely responsible for misadvertising the game. "8 YEARS in development, FINALLY RELEASED" article is going to get clicks. It was pitched as a ready to play experience. It was only just a half finished prototype and a buggy mess. Only later did they acknowledge it was so buggy, but also with the exception that "hey we love it anyway." As if the bugginess is a badge of honor or endearing. There is a larger story. How about the loyalty of a gaming community that has supported and loved on these games, enabling TaleWorlds to grow to what it is? I think customers absolutely deserve better than what has been delivered. These companies promote buggy games and leave rave reviews to games that are really undeserving. They have made it "acceptable" for even major titles to be released as a buggy mess.

Producing a buggy game, full of sloppy work and starving of content isn't cute. Virtually the same game has been released 3 times over and TW is no longer a small indie studio. I could overlook the flaws of M&B and Warband. I cant do the same again. Bannerlord has potential, but the flaws and lack of content are impossible to ignore.

There is a difference between an incomplete game and sloppy work. There are so many examples of really poor planning and just zero quality control. There are features like army cohesion specifically mentioned in blogs that were worked on years ago. It is only a button that I can click infinitely, like a cheat code, to keep an army formed even if they are whittled down to a handful of soldiers and starving. Cant even declare war/ peace as a kingdom. Those are such basic functions. How has so little been implemented? Why have features implemented by modders in weeks not been added by TaleWorlds themselves in years?

TW needs to improve how they function and improve the work produced. More than that, what is missing is not acceptable and much of what is there is not acceptable. They need to continue to recognize the game is not in acceptable form. They can do better and if they cannot, they need to hire more people and thin out those who are not up to the task. Supporting and encouraging mediocrity is counterproductive. I dont take issue with the game going Early Access and I'd buy it again to playtest it and support, but it does give cause for concern. I ask TW to do better and produce a better product. I ask them to fix what is broken and expand what isnt there. And I will continue to encourage them to do that in some small way by submitting bug reports and feedback on this forum.
 
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I remember reading PC GAMER over 20 years ago. Was a great magazine. These media companies now sell sell sensationalism though. They live on clicks in this internet age. PC GAMER, other gamer focused media companies and youtube personalities are largely responsible for misadvertising the game. "8 YEARS in development, FINALLY RELEASED" article is going to get clicks. It was pitched as a ready to play experience. It was only just a half finished prototype and a buggy mess. Only later did they acknowledge it was so buggy, but also with the exception that "hey we love it anyway." Almost as if to so the bugginess of it is a badge of honor or endearing. There is a larger story. And that is about the loyalty of the gaming community that has supported and loved on these games and enabled TW to grow to what it is. I think customers absolutely deserve better than what has been delivered. These companies promote buggy games and leave rave reviews to games that are really undeserving. They have made it "acceptable" for even major titles to be released as a buggy mess.

Producing a buggy game, full of sloppy work and starving of content isn't cute. Virtually the same game has been released 3 times over and they are no longer a small indie studio. I could overlook the flaws of M&B and Warband. I cant do the same again. THere is potential but the the lack of content and flaws are impossible to ignore

There is a difference between an incomplete game and sloppy work. There are so many examples of really poor planning and just zero quality control. There are features like army cohesion specifically that were worked on years ago. It is only a button that I can click infinitely, like a cheat code, to keep an army formed. even if they are whittled down to a handful of soldiers and starving. Cant even declare war/ peace as a kingdom. Those are such basic functions. How has so little been implemented. Why are features that have been implemented by modders in weeks not been added by TW themselves in years.

TW needs to improve how they function and the improve the work they are producing. They need to continue to recognize the game is not in acceptable form. More than that what is missing is not acceptable and much of what is there is not acceptable. They can do better and if they can, they need to hire more people and thin out the people who cant. Supporting and encouraging mediocrity is counterproductive. I dont take issue with the game going Early Access and I'd buy it again to playtest it and support TW, but it does give cause for concern. I ask TW to do better and produce a better product. I ask them to fix what is is broken and expand what isnt there and I will continue in some small way by submitting bug reports and feedback on this forum.

See, I had some... let's say conversations on this forum with people that were basically foaming at their mouth from rage against TW and the developers of this game. I said several times that feedback and criticism are just fine but the tone with which they are delivered matters. I think that everyone who has a harsh opinion of this game should strive to write posts similar to what you just did here. Your opinion is strongly negative, you deliver it clearly and go into actual detail over what is wrong with things, without resorting to bashing and personal attacks towards the individuals who worked/are working on this game.

I don't necessarily agree with everything you are saying, but I thank you for taking the time to write it and share it.
 
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