Bringing back the earlier roman look

[VictorF]

So... characterization of the Calradian empire has shifted a lot during development.
Initial concecpt art showed soldiers using gear similar to that of a 2nd century legionnaire, screenshots of some cities showed classical greco-roman buldings and well kept cobbled streets and civil clothes had a somewhat more classical look.
Now they seem to have ditched the late antiquity flavor and went all the way bizantine empire. Legions use kite shields, head armor is either kettle or very late rigde helmets, cities have nearly no classical greco-roman buildings and all show some level of dark age decay (wild grass growing everywhere, poorly kept streets and roads, shacks and irregular structures all around).

How hard would it be to mod it all back to that classical look from early concept art without adding new assets? Did anyone see muscled bronze cuirasses, gallic helmets or central grip oval scutums? Any sign of some roman pantheons or helenic architecture on the files?

Byzantine looks are fine and all but I had high hopes some years ago that I could play around with some classical legionaires raiding calradians and bringing the spoils of war back to some magnificient roman-like capital (oh, Zendar, what a dream).

 

[hruza]

How hard would it be to mod it all back to that classical look from early concept art without adding new assets?

Not possible. Unless devs would leave all those early assets in the game. Which I doubt. It would increase file size. Besides those assets were likely unfinished, so it's questionable how useful they would be even if you would get access to them somehow.

 

[JuanNieve]

Well, there is supposed to be a minor faction called "The legion of betrayed" maybe they could still fight in roman imperial style and be like the "disfavored" in Tyranny(Obsidian’s Rpg) a small army, but elite and veterans soldiers.

Spoiler

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

How hard would it be to mod it all back to that classical look from early concept art without adding new assets?

Not possible. Unless devs would leave all those early assets in the game. Which I doubt. It would increase file size. Besides those assets were likely unfinished, so it's questionable how useful they would be even if you would get access to them somehow.

Most games have a lot of their older or unused assets left in the game files, because sometimes removing them isn't worth the effort. Warband has a bunch of helmets and armour which were never used, and a few weapons too.

 

[urugamer5]

Well i say it in one topic about "which mod u will like", i want one of ceasar age preferently exactly as "rome total war 1" factions and map 
i didnt check lastly empire i bannerlord but yeah hope they be as close as romans posible.

 

[hruza]

Most games have a lot of their older or unused assets left in the game files, because sometimes removing them isn't worth the effort. Warband has a bunch of helmets and armour which were never used, and a few weapons too.

That's not a lot of assets. There are often some leftovers, yes, in a large games like this that happens. But bites are money, and they're unlikely going to leave alternative assets for whole factions in files.

Moreover even if they would leave them, given game got changes since then, not all of them might be compatible anymore.

 

[Nexter3]

I like the byzantine look better, that's the reason why i'll play the empire. Byzantium RULES!

 

[84Slashes]

For me, having republican / early empire Roman-style Calradian soldiers and equipment would be quite jarring because all the other factions take inspiration from 9th-12th century counterparts.  The exception to this is Battania, which actually does feel closer to the Celts that Republican Romans might have fought... but the result is that the Battanians feel anachronistic to me in current Bannerlord.

Sounds to me like you're looking for a mod set in the Roman era, which would be pretty cool.

 

[vicwiz007]

I like the byzantine look better, that's the reason why i'll play the empire. Byzantium RULES!

Agreed with this and 84slashes. It fits the style of the crumbling empire whereas a clean early Rome does not. Byzantines are not very common in games either, at least compared to the Romans.

That is one thing I love about M&B. Even though they are just fantasy factions, you gain an appreciation for the culture they are based on. For example, before playing as Sarranids/Aserai I had no interest in middle eastern history apart from the crusades.

 

[urugamer5]

i think as this one is going to be something totally diferent than warband as bigger battles and siges, mods are going to be great this time, they could be as an actual game apart.

 

[Ettenrocal]

At the begining concept arts were showing a late roman empire style like 5-6th century and they have shifted to a "byzantine" empire style of 8-9-10th century. Battanians were based on celts but are now a "barbaric fantasy faction".

 

[geala]

I don't like the shift, too. All troops more or less look the same. It's a fantasy game and I would appreciate a bit more diversity. I hope that you can change NPC appearance already at EA release (but I don't think you can).

 

[Roy1012]

The Byzantine era was the fracture of the Roman Empire, seeing as the Calradian Empire is falling apart, it makes sense.

 

[Gurkhal]

To me it would be wierd to see Classical Roman soldiers in feudal system. The Classical legionnaire look it very much associated with a professional army so it would, in my opinion, feel very wierd to see such soldiers in a system with nobles and their private retinues making up the army. Yes, you can say that the same goes for Byzantine soldiers but Byzantium does not have nearly the same kind of place in popular literature that the Roman Empire of Classical Antiquity has.

Hence I also favor a Byzantine base for the Calradian Empire. In addition to many other arguments already mentioned in the thread.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

They never showed roman armour inspired by that period though. Even the earliest concept art is based on stuff from the 400s and onward with the oval shields and scale / chainmail.

 

[DanAngleland]

I would have liked to see oval shields in the game.

 

[Terco_Viejo]

I would have liked to see oval shields in the game.

In beta, oval shields do appear. Surely in the SP there is more variety (I hope™)