Bannerlord SP First Reactions: Megathread

[belzasar]

Happy to finaly got the Banner in my hands! Though, after this time, i expected a bit more fleshed out presentation. And i feel like there has been missed out on improvements and extensions of warband features. Though, most screens are an improvement for sure and i haven't seen all the game yet and i'm aware its EA, but some things feel like a downgrade from warband or not sorrowly thought out. Yet.
Just a few points from me:

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Where is the changelog? I mean a wholesome changelog listing all changes and messages about events and everything presented to me anyway (though, currently i have to pay attention to not miss the info), not that limited log showing up from enter. Options to adjust info?​

The Messages flashing and spaming up on the screens stern, "trying" to inform me about something, but being far to brief in that, when it comes in bulk. They should be presented more reasonsable readable, reviewable. Could maybe even summed up in a related completion screen. "Quest completed with this and that rewards and relation changes."​

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Will the Encyclopedia get a proper access way, aside from via quest description links or rightclick?​

Will the Encyclopedia get a convenient "show me on map" button? Not the tracking option but an actual switch to the map and location.​

On the Heroes pedia page i also miss, which fiefs one governs.​

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Dialog screen should not be exited after a tradescreen involved. Also, with other dialog options not indicating a leave. (Forced "farewell")​

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Trade-screen could be better, if it would be like the Proposal-screen, showing the exchangeing items of each party in the middle. That way one would have a better overview about the trade going on, to better adjust, instead of just reset the whole trade or fiddle around.​

Also itemvalue could be colored in the list as well, not just on the tooltip. If it's too intrusive on the colorscheme, maybe holding down Alt-key would bring the colors?​

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Prices change while i set the amount, this leads to higher prices the more i buy, which feels counter-intuitive to what one expect. Buying grater amounts usually gives better prices, in the real economy. Prices should be updated after a purchase, have a certain stock threshold, where it's not offered anymore, but available at a changed price, or be shown as a mean for the available stock. Either way, prices should behave more intuitve on trade.​

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Recruitement screen should also give party management options, eg. to recruit a better unit and disband another (eg. for the party-size-cap). Not so fond about the relation tier restricted recruitment, btw. There could be more ways to trade units. Speaking to a partyleader, asking him to exchange some troops for coin; relation induced unwillingness to give them out, thus increase in prices. Who gets the money from recruitments, btw?​

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Villages now offer higher tier units, given the proper relation with that guy, who is asking me to protect him and the village from some thugs.. Those units also don't seem to be factored on a raid. There could have been a trade to train and sell troops - barracks, garissons, wandering mercanaries offering their service. That's what all the soldiers are anyway, swords for hire. Either, trained soldiers shouldn't just come out of a village or they have to actualy be there, and even trained to that point, or comming from somewhere.​

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While a party is raiding, i can't select that party to get info, just by holding down alt-key i know whos raiding there. Parties should be selectable conistently.​

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If i engage a 3rd party raid or battle i just get the option "Don't get involved". Players should always get presented with whatever decision they might want to make. I suspect this is not yet implemented or worked out, for some reason..​

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Dialog trees feel quite empty, with little variation and dynamic referals to circumstances.​

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Picking a more social, diplomatic build for my hero vs a combat oriented one, seem to crave for content. And also leveling on such a build seem quite more difficult. Gaining skill points by running around in battle vs gaining skill by trading, talking, etc...​

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Well, getting to a battle isn't that easy as well. Playing on realistic, i'm only able to get those looters and such only by outmanouvering them against an obstacle. They don't seem to do anything aside from "patroling" aimlessly or preying on the weakened player. I haven't seen they attack anyone, but me. Also the other way, noone seem to be much interested in the looters - they outrun anyone anyway.​

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Why can i still not choose, which units i take with me, eg. in some bandits hideout? It used to be the upper guys in the party order, but even that is not the case.​

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...(might be continued)​

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There would have been so much potential improvements from warband to here, yet it feels more like a visual conversion.
I'm sorry to say this, but i see, visuals aside, barely obvious improvements, but left out opportunities. I know, it's EA, but i guess it's mostly featurecomplete at this point, not sure how much improvement on this i can expect..

I don't get it..

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[majiger]

Cut for length

Encyclopedia is bound to the 'N' key by default.

I have been able to consistently get my top units into hideout, so I'm not sure if it's just bugging out sometimes?

I think the main issue with the trade menu is the location of the tabs. They are under your character name instead of being where the inventories are.

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As for my thoughts, I think it's like a total conversion port of Warband. Visually it's great. For the mass of the game I think the graphics are at a sweet spot where it looks good but doesn't lag up the system (At least in my experience).

You can tell there are something things that are still being worked on, like character passives, some ways to level skills, economy not settling, etc.

Combat feels really nice but I wish some options from Warband/Mods were available for tactics, like forming extra lines, or even the option to send your troops but allow commanding them like an RTS.

I feel that the main improvement to the game is the new engine should be a lot easier to work with for modding purposes. The bug fixes should also start getting fixed much quicker now that a lot of people are playing.

 

[Squirrelfart]

Early-game is a bit rough, and there's a lot of inferiorities compared to WB, with equal amounts of superiority compared to WB. I do think the game could benefit from more things such as

- (re)centralising the importance of Lords in a faction
- Making quests more available
- Improving tournament gains
- Bringing back the trainer skill
- Allowing you to spend points on skills instead of doing the activity to get the skill

 

[HoboTroll]

Hello Taleworlds,
Now, I am sure there is some historical or game-play reason for this, but 8 years later and no tournament weapon choice? Or at least weapon choice in practice arena? One of those things that should be an option to tick off if you want the random weapon thing.
Great graphics and I really like the improved troop commands. Also I could not play the warband after my first like 20 hours without cheat that allows you to instantly travel anywhere. That should definitely be an optional tick in the gameplay screen with achievments disabled just because it takes too long to do anything in Mount and Blade without it.

 

[K3VLaR]

Impressions after the first 20 hours

First of all i love it, it looks great it plays great and the immersion is epic. Though its early acces, EA didnt keep me from having fun with the game.

Positive:

- Graphics look good, runs smooth as butter. Max battles stutter but what do u expect with 1000 Ai's painting the field red.
- Combat is more challanging, the fighting mechanic really pushes you to train your skills(fighting skills not the actual ingame skills)
- At the beginning i really felt like a peasant.
- Imersive, First time i entered a town or a village it took me 10 minutes to actually do what i came for. Cities are living and breathing. Also the first person really helps with this.
- The map is epic well balanced, choke points, town locations etc
- Factions look good, they really look like the parts where theyre from in the world. Each faction fights different.
- in depth details like party speed, having more horses make u faster, dragging hostages make u slower etc
- Map units, alot of em, Armies, Caravans and even villagers moving from village to town to trade their goods.

There's alot more positive but lets start with these..


Less positive: ( I know its early acces and most of these things will get fixed, but now theyre in )

- Loading screens, every action in a town pops up a loading screen. My pc is fast and they wont take long to load, but its still much..
- AI, i know alot of work has gone into AI combat, but the only faction/unit that plays different is the Khuzait Khanate. theyre mounted units really charge you and drive off. Every other faction just Charges you in one straight line
- Quest diversity, i think i did all the quests, multiple times
- Tournaments, they play great but thats it. you beat the competition get a price and everyone forgets about it. I won in almost every town and still people dont know me
- Quests info, this game sucks you into the world. where is the lore? quest info feels shallow.


Things i would like to see:

- Better usage of map/cities, atm every city feels the same strategic wise. Cities like Quyaz, Diathma or Makeb could make a perfect M&B constantinopel. Giving them more protection from their factions, more attention from enemy factions etc

- Joining the army, i loved how in warband i could join a lords army and climb the ranks. Growing into his strongest unit and becoming his vassel.

- AI Tactics, atm the AI only charges into combat. when i attack a band of looters or raiders they are on the defensive side, let them hold up and barricade themselve in shieldwalls


MP:

- atm Matches take 5 minutes, please increase this.
- After every match you return to the main menu, why not start a new match on that same server instantly
- Duel servers (hardcore servers with less players) to train combat
- This one might not fit in M&B but someway to heal yourself? wasnt there some medicinal plants that gave you a little boost in that time?

- This is the only game where a siege battle in MP really shows (i think) how chaotic it was in those times

ATM the game is super awesome and i will spend alot of time in it, i hope you will too. Thanks Taleworlds!!

 

[InfinityFire]

Underwhelming.

Lack of content and diplomacy/interaction.

It's early access though. I know.

 

[TechnoKhan]

First time posting here! Wanted to pitch in my thoughts, having purchased the game yesterday and given it about a dozen hours. I apologize if I come off as overly negative, there was a lot I've been loving so far, but my desire to express concerns and hopes for where early access will go has most of my thoughts at the moment.

Positives:
- Graphics are, more often than not, gorgeous, with a lot of the scenic locations being downright cinematic!
- UI is beautiful and easy to follow
- When attacks land it feels fantastic, less like the weightlessness from the game before
- Overmap is great
- Being able to directly talk to people rather than search them out in the middle of towns is very appreciated
- Tournaments are addicting and fun
- Archery and spears finally feel great to use after having not felt them for a very, very long time!

Negatives:
- It is nigh impossible to reliably block with a one handed weapon, two handed weapon, or polearm, and enemies react much too fast while the animation to block is slow, leaving shield the only seemingly viable defense option
- Hitting people also much, much harder in a way that is not so satisfying, especially when your men crowd up it can become impossible to land a single hit
- No ironflesh, and armor seemingly not having a point or effect, makes speedy stabbing, ranged combat, and shields the only consistently reliable way to play as a looter proves as much threat as an equite
- Limited quests leave very little variety, and lacking old classic ones from the previous game feels very sad, I would suggest adding back in those from Warband
- Looters make up the majority of enemies on the map, forest bandits and steppe bandits I've seen here or there, but almost all of it are looters, and they are monotonous to fight as well as hard to fight if you are doing anything but shield or ranged in the early game, I hope that the wide variety of enemy types from Warband makes a return as well as in larger numbers so I don't have to chase bands of 10 and 5 everywhere with 50 men of my own
- Skill progression is extraordinarily slow, and since it is based on in-game practice which is hard to come by for most of them, it becomes hard to really develop a character to your desires
- Stores are limited in stock and selection compared to Warband, and starting gear is so good that cheaper gear seems irrelevant which is a shame as I enjoyed starting cheap, and enemies rarely drop weapons save for the same few blacksmith hammers and sickles
- A showdown with bandit leaders at the end of EVERY hideout feels very out of place and a majority of the time there is no chance of winning that duel, it should perhaps be limited to a chance event rather than all the time
- There is almost nothing separating the three Empire factions at the moment in terms of mechanics and flavor, I hope to see more divergence going forward
- Aesthetic nitpick but capes clipping through everything ruins the delightful point of a cape!

All the same, thank you for releasing, and I look forward to how the Early Access progresses!

 

[Kniggit]

After tinkering on 3 different computers I've got something that will at least run Bannerlord on the lowest possible settings. Here's my initial impressions after a few hours of stuttery gameplay: I'm enjoying myself!

The Good:
- I like the immersion, the world seems more rich even with missing features that are yet to be implemented.
- Getting to experience the wonder of something new yet at the same time familiar.
- Archery feels better than Warband
- I like the troop commands
- I like the challenge, even looters are difficult

The Bad:
- Combat is iffy since my framerate sucks, so I'm playing archer and trying to prioritize leadership to have my minions do my dirty work.
- Dialogue is definitely a work in progress. As EA progress and more features see the light of day I expect more depth with NPC interactions and streamlining useless dialogue options (Example: Trying to ask a lord a question results in only one option: "Nevermind", just don't show that option to begin with)
- Missing features that I could swear I read about in dev blogs (forestry? hunting? farming?), or had taken for granted as they were present in previous titles (auto block? how do I camp?)
- Encyclopedia is really bare at the moment with minimal information that borders on being unhelpful.
- This game should be running WAY better at lowest settings. I can run Elder Scrolls Online at max settings with decent FPS, but this thing is a hog.

Everything considered I see the devs are already hard at work addressing the critical bugs that the community has found so far (mainly crashes preventing the game from even running) and I am confident they'll continue to smooth everything out. I really hope at some point that more focus can be made on low-end performance optimizations as I still can't believe it is this stuttery on lowest settings when other major titles run great.

Keep up the great work Taleworlds! I'll try to do my part and report bugs as I find them. It's going to be really fun to see how it evolves into its' actual release!

Edit: I am so confused as to why it posted as "Asugan Noyan" instead of my actual profile, screw that guy! Ransom fodder... Apparently it's something to do with this subforum since everyone is a random Warband NPC...

 

[pourover]

Never played the previous games, thought I'd give this a shot because of the buzz. As a new player, some kind of hint towards random quest difficulty would be useful? I watched some streams and people were doing village quest fights in open fields against 10-15 people. I did a random village quest and it threw me into combat with a 28-strong enemy force (with cavalry!) inside the village, making maneuvering tough. I obviously died immediately. It seems like there's potentially a lot to like here, but especially considering the sandbox is already intimidating for a new player, more hints would be appreciated.

 

[Brave_Lung]

Wow! I guess they have to hire few ppl just to read the forums! This is heavy!
There are so many bugs, actually, is there anything that isn't bugged? ?

Even the FORUM IS BUGGED! I'm not Count Gerluchs!!! I'm Brave_Lung! My account is messed up! I post as Count Gerluchs
I lose my identity ?

 

[Baron279]

Where are my banners in BANNERlord? I'm talking about the banner bearers in battle.

 

[DredgenDare]

the in-game time pass is way too slow, by the time you have an heir that is 6-year old one faction would have already conquered everything in the map. I think that one in-game day/night cycle should be worth more days. right now it is about 4.5 days and i think that a 1 day/cycle = 2 weeks or even 4 weeks would make it a lot better. because as of now the whole heir system is pointless since their will be nothing left to conquer by the time your character dies.

 

[Tlap]

the in-game time pass is way too slow, by the time you have an heir that is 6-year old one faction would have already conquered everything in the map. I think that one in-game day/night cycle should be worth more days. right now it is about 4.5 days and i think that a 1 day/cycle = 2 weeks or even 4 weeks would make it a lot better. because as of now the whole heir system is pointless since their will be nothing left to conquer by the time your character dies.

I think, instead of speeding up time, i would rather see slowing down fight between factions, so it wouldnt be so fast.

 

[Huncowboy]

I am in the minority but to me this game is not all that different from the original one. I think it is the same with better graphics. I have around 10h into it now. Will I keep playing it? I will. It is fun, and unique. But my initial impression is that, I don't really see what took 8 years. I don't make games, but I do own a small indy mobile app company and I program myself, so I am not totally oblivious of the timelines in the biz. I get it that Tale is a small company but I feel like I am playing the same exact game with a graphics mod. I mean certain dialogues are a paste/copy. Battle AI and the AI on the map seams to be identical.

I am still going to play the crap out of it, because it is a good game, but I am definitely disappointed. At least that is my initial impression. I am glad it finally it came out int EA at least. I don't mind the $40 for it either. I hope a lot more will be put into it prior release.

 

[Lilly112]

My first reaction was elation. Joy, and jubilation! I character created, fawned over it, loved the textures and the smooth, brilliance of the movement and the attacking!

The next ten hours were spent in what can be summed up as "Fitting for the current state of 2020"

 

[donk3000]

I really feel as if there should be some duel and or other arena mode to use your own weapons and armour, against people of a similar rank/equipment rating. Duels as a third option for the arena? Practice fights should also be in a smaller area with NO ranged weapons, it's ridiculous how often I will get killed by an enemy who has spawned behind me and takes my head off with an arrow. Tournaments are fun, but they should have tournament regulated armor, to even the playing field in that regard.

 

[pucosc202]

First off, very much enjoying the game, even with its current limitations. Certainly, I think there is a good base in place to progress from. Anyway, wants to join the chorus of initial thoughts.

1. As many have said, in a game called Bannerlord, there needs to be banners/flags/standards in battles. I’m curious why they still haven’t been implemented when we have seen them in previous videos. Would very much add to the immersion in battles.

2. Obviously, whatever is going on with the lack of armors available in cities should be corrected. Rather jarring to lead a bunch of Vlandian knights while still dressed as a ragamuffin.

3. I may have missed it, but there seems to be minimal context on business viability. Many options for businesses in cities, but some indication on the projected profitability would be helpful. Warband has this and usually you would make somewhere around the estimate, +/-200 denars.

4. I’m agnostic on the skill/progression system right now. It’s a bit different, but I think it could work. The big obstacle, in my opinion, is all the passive skills (leadership, medicine, scout, etc). As many have said, leadership is especially hard to level, which is a shame since it underpins a big part of the game (developing a high quality party). Definitely needs to be linked to battle outcomes and executing leadership positions within faction armies. I notice Tactics levelling quite a bit in difficult battles and when acting as a subordinate commander in an army. Leadership should be linked to the same variables. Also, Leadership and Scout (for example) perks should also be increased. Scout’s first perk of +1% party speed is pretty underwhelming.

5. Mercenary work should be temporary. The contract should expire or you should be able to cancel the contract after a certain amount of time has passed without penalty to relations. I also think it would be valuable to have a period (maybe 30 days) in which you can’t join your previous faction’s enemies without penalty. However, the first part is the most important.

To end on a positive note, I have fortunately missed most of the significant bugs. I think I have only had one CTD in about 15 hours of playing and one load screen freeze (sea raider camp, which is now fixed). Good performance even in large battles and sieges, except for a few slowdowns at the end of long play sessions. Combat mechanics took some adjusting from Warband, but they now feel natural.

 

[pada]

Thanks for releasing a day early. Thanks for cloning warband in all the good ways.

1. My general list of notes & ideas after my first 26 hours of gameplay with 1 restart. Just hitting a 50 man party now with tier 1-2 troops.

allow paying back pay to raise morale somewhat if you missed a payment

no compass for world map? some "north" indicator would be nice, or maybe a cool sundail addon? i constantly get turned around and wish i didnt have to zoom in and out of the map constantly.

complete trade button? list only what i bought/sold? colour change? sell all but food? I miss a lot of stuff the bigger mods added like Floris, but that's coming?

camp on map? train men? read books?

boats? water district?

quicksave confirmation message?

mouse sensitivity option in scenes vs in menus so i don't have to change it constantly on my mouse...

no right click option when clicking on parties on map like warband? caravans run away from escort..too fast caravans should be slower...or you run into them constantly - they get attacked by the time i get there half the caravan is dead? constantly getting hit by raiders at city gates instead of on the road/forest???

widen right lower infobar or join it with centerbar ... silly to click to "Expand it up" - push troop wages to line 1 and influence to line 2 (more value info first)

companions are level 13 joining me at level 7 (lvl is too high, i want them to join at lower levels (like 1) and have to groom them up...)

background for weapon preview is terrible for previewing (colour) also why is every weapon intially lined up in the worst possible way to view it?

smithing "you havent unlocked some of the pieces but they show unlocked...

add "Rest" and "buy" for hardwood/charcoal/smithing ingredients to smithing screen. the smithing loop of trader/smith/rest is very annoying clickfest..

weird line at skyline (image)

add an aiming dot for third person single player only / let server lock option? i need an aiming dot...first person makes me dizzy, 3rd person esp polearms are really hard to aim without a dot.

arena options like melee weapons only, check boxes for what we want and dont want in fights...

warnings for low supply, troop wages in line 1, more important than influence.

buy horses by colour and pattern? add markings to horses? i miss horse shopping from warband

endless caravan defend battle if you retreat.

notes..need "go to settlement" not just track

do unlocked and locked items just like you did quests active and completed to open/close
the tree. trade menu and troop menu suffer the same bloat warband had in useage of the ui. use a windows tree in the shopping/trade window menu - it'll be just like warband with a list longer than your caravan otherwise....

troops - how can we see each troopers equipment? can we make custom troops?

 

[Sithrain]

The bones are here for a great mount and blade experience but I have to say I am not enjoying myself at all. Progression feels slow and extremely unsatisfying, and most of the perks that will take so long to unlock are absurdly bad (1% map speed increase? seriously?). I can't fight anything but looters throwing rocks and they are worthless for acquiring gold. Tournament payouts are pathetic unless you get really lucky on the prize, and without the old blocking I find them a real chore to play. Becoming a vassal got me nothing but a host of enemies, and trying to join an army in the hopes of conquering some territory just resulted in the ai getting me captured and losing my whole party. I guess on the bright side I haven't had any bugs (placeholder text aside) or crashes, but I haven't had any fun either.

 

[Altiris]

NOTE: I'm aware that some of these issues have been fixed by now, but content/feature wise the game feels bland and empty, multiplayer seems great and I hope they'll expand it during the early access.

I’m on TaleWorlds side and I’ll support them as much as I can but that doesn’t mean I won't give criticism

Quest are extremely repetitive and most are not only bugged but they will prevent you from progressing permanently.

The dialog is not only extremely repetitive, it’s borderline glitched in a lot of places. Hence the “insert generic backstory here” pictures. While that’s humorous in a lot of ways it also shows how serious you are taking the development, of lack there of.

The new features that are available are almost pointless due to the player not being able to properly use it. IE: Balancing issues with pricing and rewarding.

I often have no idea what to do because it seems there aren't as many possibilities as I thought, and not a lot of ways to achieve your set goal.

You’ve taken out a lot of positive things from Warband without supplementing it with a better alternative, or at least an explanation as to why you went that way. IE: The option to auto-block, XP from tournaments, ...

Everything Is at its bare bone implementation. You still have options in the dialogue menu that lead no where. I’m not sure if this is a design choice or laziness? Why would I ask a lord “can I ask a question” if I would only follow up with “nevermind”.

I have no doubt that Bannerlord will eventually become a great game. But after 8 years of waiting with little to no communication you put out a product that's bare-bones.