Buildings not made for giants.

[Innocent Flower]

In third person games, buildings are often a little larger than they should be, to bother the camera a bit less. The Mount and blade series takes this really far. Too far.

Here's something from warband to illustrate some problems

The stairs are knee high.
The second floor has no support.
The ceiling is so high that you could comfortably divide each floor into two and you'd then have a lovely four story property. 
Stones have got to be way easier to work with in calradia than the realworld
Land tax is way too lax. Lord could totaly milk this place for bigger armies. You could play a game of football in here.
Hanging meat is awesome, don't do it like that though.

Spoiler

This one here's something you can fight me about. Stairs are pretty severe once again, maybe within reasonable bounds.
So much wasted space once again. When you see awesomely high ceilings in a stone ruin, it's because there'd be several floors made by wood that decayed*.  This here building could have three to five floors in it.
*certain buildings like those of a religious or state'd be an exception, but this doesn't look like an exception. 

Spoiler

This one's a bit of fun.
Firstly; Who the hell can reach those plates? For that top shelve, you'll need a ladder, some tongs, or a well trained monkey. When you're near the end of the rope for sausages, you'll be needing to risk death-defying feats for those high strung meats, as even the bar you could use as a stage might not be able to give you that precious off-screen reach.
Now, the wall at the back's a good, modern wall height, and I don't think you need to bother with that.  It varied with time period, but as we've got the right kind of roof anyway; Medieval people often didn't bother with making walls that high. The walls only need to be high enough that the roof isn't going to hit you. If this whole thing was smaller, not only would it make more historical and economic sense, the room would just look more cosy.
The illumination of the room doesn't make sense, and would be easier if the room was more compact.

There's a horse to give you an idea of scale here. Unless that horse is a week old, I... Here's a questionably relevant question for you all; If Talewords makes walls like this, how big would they model pyramids, and could you make limestone from the bones of all the dead slaves?
You could build walls this high, but it's a big case of diminishing returns. I think this is a city wall, rather than a castle wall, but I can't really be sure with the track record.  It's crazy stuff.
(also I don't see farms or any suggestion of this place being a strategic point, so what's it's purpose?) 

 

[lolbash]

I mean it looks good so I honestly don't see why Taleworlds gives a ****. Fun>realism. Learn to let Taleworlds use their own artistic freedom

 

[Rabies]

In third person games, buildings are often a little larger than they should be, to bother the camera a bit less. The Mount and blade series takes this really far. Too far.

Here's something from warband to illustrate some problems

The stairs are knee high.
The second floor has no support.
The ceiling is so high that you could comfortably divide each floor into two and you'd then have a lovely four story property. 
Stones have got to be way easier to work with in calradia than the realworld
Land tax is way too lax. Lord could totaly milk this place for bigger armies. You could play a game of football in here.
Hanging meat is awesome, don't do it like that though.

Spoiler

This one here's something you can fight me about. Stairs are pretty severe once again, maybe within reasonable bounds.
So much wasted space once again. When you see awesomely high ceilings in a stone ruin, it's because there'd be several floors made by wood that decayed*.  This here building could have three to five floors in it.
*certain buildings like those of a religious or state'd be an exception, but this doesn't look like an exception. 

Spoiler

This one's a bit of fun.
Firstly; Who the hell can reach those plates? For that top shelve, you'll need a ladder, some tongs, or a well trained monkey. When you're near the end of the rope for sausages, you'll be needing to risk death-defying feats for those high strung meats, as even the bar you could use as a stage might not be able to give you that precious off-screen reach.
Now, the wall at the back's a good, modern wall height, and I don't think you need to bother with that.  It varied with time period, but as we've got the right kind of roof anyway; Medieval people often didn't bother with making walls that high. The walls only need to be high enough that the roof isn't going to hit you. If this whole thing was smaller, not only would it make more historical and economic sense, the room would just look more cosy.
The illumination of the room doesn't make sense, and would be easier if the room was more compact.

There's a horse to give you an idea of scale here. Unless that horse is a week old, I... Here's a questionably relevant question for you all; If Talewords makes walls like this, how big would they model pyramids, and could you make limestone from the bones of all the dead slaves?
You could build walls this high, but it's a big case of diminishing returns. I think this is a city wall, rather than a castle wall, but I can't really be sure with the track record.  It's crazy stuff.
(also I don't see farms or any suggestion of this place being a strategic point, so what's it's purpose?)

The castle walls look about right to me.
And I don't see what's so unbelievable about using a ladder to fetch things from high shelves, or from hooks on the ceiling?
Not sure if you have a point about the tavern interiors or not; but it wouldn't surprise me if they had high ceilings in order to prevent them being like darkened smoke-filled caves inside, given their lack of electric lighting and all.

 

[Naikon]

Man, you are just nitpicking about everything in Bannerlord. Let taleworlds have some artistic freedom. The things you mentioned are insignificant when it comes to gameplay.

 

[lolbash]

Like other people said, youre conveniently missing a bunch of points about gameplay in favor of realism just to complain about taleworlds.


This post is really stupid and honestly, gives off the vibe of being entitled.

 

[KhergitLancer80]

Like other people said, youre conveniently missing a bunch of points about gameplay in favor of realism just to complain about taleworlds.


This post is really stupid and honestly, gives off the vibe of being entitled.

No need to offend anyone I believe.
Lets not drag this into a fight.

Anyways, I also dont agree since in my opinion this is just a design choice rather than a mistake.
TW had a reason going with a fictional universe instead of the real world after all.
They can just say this is the way architecture developed in Calradia and get away with it.
As long as they fit to the technology of the era, dont make physical mistakes and one extra thing: represent the real world cultures accurate(with the general lines ofc) I am fine with it.

Also it would be very unsmart for them to just throw all this 3-4 years of work just for this reason.

But you can save this suggestion for M&B 3 always 

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

I'd prefer 100ft ceilings over claustrophobic camera issues. There are tonnes more glaring breaks from realism in these games which can be fixed without sacrificing playability.

 

[kalarhan]

http://www.referencepointpress.com/pdfs/samples/hgs.pdf

High walls also allowed the
castle’s archers to shoot from a higher angle while still being protected
from enemy  re; this was an added advantage for the defenders. Some
later medieval castles had walls that were only about 15 to 20 feet (4.6
m to 6 m) high, but the walls of the stronger castles typically measured
about 30 feet (9 m) in height and sometimes more.  e wall of England’s
Framlingham Castle reached 40 feet (12 m) above the ground.
In general, as the medieval era wore on and weaponry improved, the
walls of newly constructed castles grew ever thicker and higher.

Other curious tibtis:

- walls average at 2 meters, one catle with 6 meter and another with some sections with 12 meters
- Warwick Castle (England): "original built by William the Conqueror in 1068. The original wooden motte-and-bailey castle was rebuilt in stone in the 12th century" (example of a castle upgraded over the centuries). Height of tallest tower with 39 meters.

first result from Google. Look for more info if you (someone reading this) is curious about castles and fortifications.

On Norman castles in England (a reference to Vlandia): https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Castles_of_England/Norman_Castles. England would end up with hundreds of fortifications, from all kinds and sizes, over the period of 10th to 16th century.

--> We dont know what kinds will be available on villages and for different cultures as of yet, as we only saw a couple castles so far.

Youtube also has some very cool channels and documentaries, like this one that discuss the cost of building a a big castle (paid by the king)

Why castles are built (a discussion)


Discussion on cost of building a castle, keep a garrison, and comparing it to the nation (king) income


this topic is quite interesting, which also means there are tons of articles, books, documentaries, etc around. Note that some sources consider castles were first built in the 10th century, so fortifications before that would have different references (like a hill fort). And that excludes towns.

 

[Rabies]

There's a horse to give you an idea of scale here. Unless that horse is a week old, I... Here's a questionably relevant question for you all; If Talewords makes walls like this, how big would they model pyramids, and could you make limestone from the bones of all the dead slaves?
You could build walls this high, but it's a big case of diminishing returns. I think this is a city wall, rather than a castle wall, but I can't really be sure with the track record.  It's crazy stuff.
(also I don't see farms or any suggestion of this place being a strategic point, so what's it's purpose?)

I think you've got it wrong, mate.
Look at the horse. It looks to me like the gateway of the castle is about 3-4 times the height of the horse, which would make it around 15-20 feet high, give or take. The total height of the castle wall is about double that of the gateway, so we can estimate it to be about 30-40 feet high. I don't understand why you think either of those measurements are excessively high? If anything, they seem a bit on the low side to me: this picture shows a Level 3 castle from Bannerlord - ie. the biggest castle that's possible in the game.

Now google "Pembroke Castle" (built in the 11th-13th centuries by the Normans in south Wales) and tell me if you really think it looks a lot smaller than this one from the devblog. Because to me, it looks like Pembroke has even higher walls and bigger structures. Granted, Pembroke is one of the largest and most impressive castles of that era still standing in the British Isles, but the castle from the Devblog is also one of the largest and most impressive you're going to see in Bannerlord.

Look again at the gif:

The picture is clearly of the same castle, when at its largest extent of development.

 

[SherShahSuri]

I like the way things are

 

[John the Roleplayer]

The thing I find most glaring in these screenshots is the bleak look of that castle, as if it's a ruin already. There are some black banners that I suppose would show the lord's or town's heraldry when finished, but there could be a lot more decoration still. A finished castle should look like a place people actually enjoy living in, not just a practical scene to have battles in.

 

[Lord Brutus]

Bodiam Castle.

Spoiler: 1

I'm not sure I would enjoy living there, just based on the look of the place.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

That's because it's been left unkept for several centuries. Castles had roofs, painted walls (some were bright pink, many were whitewashed), and were generally in or near a town. The only reason they look like ruins in a video game or film is because they would probably be unrecognisable to both 3D artist and player if depicted in their contemporary form.

 

[Rabies]

Bodiam Castle.

Spoiler: 1

I'm not sure I would enjoy living there, just based on the look of the place.

What? It looks awesome! I'd live there if I could afford it!

 

[John the Roleplayer]

That's because it's been left unkept for several centuries. Castles had roofs, painted walls (some were bright pink, many were whitewashed), and were generally in or near a town. The only reason they look like ruins in a video game or film is because they would probably be unrecognisable to both 3D artist and player if depicted in their contemporary form.

Exactly. The medieval era is too often depicted as drab, dirty and dismal. There should be a lot more colour to it.

 

[Intel Guardian]

It's entirely possible that the castle/town depicted was built by the Battanians, who are depicted as a decaying faction, and I doubt that poorer lords would be able to maintain plaster on their castle walls, but I agree that the richer castles and towns should have whitewashed walls. Due to the sheer size of the castle, if it is a castle, I would expect it to be owned by a wealthy lord, who would probably have the walls plastered if he wasn't/isn't Battanian.

 

[Rungsted93]

I think as many others the scale/size is fine as it is. And to be completely honest I couldn't care less about such thing as long as it looks and feels right.

 

[Cale]

That's because it's been left unkept for several centuries. Castles had roofs, painted walls (some were bright pink, many were whitewashed), and were generally in or near a town. The only reason they look like ruins in a video game or film is because they would probably be unrecognisable to both 3D artist and player if depicted in their contemporary form.

Exactly. The medieval era is too often depicted as drab, dirty and dismal. There should be a lot more colour to it.

While I agree with the point in general about the period, I'm not sure castles are where I would choose to draw the distinction. While some may have been painted or whitewashed not all were and there are castles which have been continuously occupied - like Windsor Castle, which don't look that different in terms of their walls. Modern windows obviously added but I mean the stonework.

 

[Scarf Ace]

Exactly. The medieval era is too often depicted as drab, dirty and dismal. There should be a lot more colour to it.

This is such a damn massive pet peeve of mine. I hate how historical or history-inspired fiction is always so damn drab. In reality people dressed colourfully and built colourful things. They loved to display their wealth even if they didn't have much of it.
And you know what? It looked so much better than drab browns, grey and blacks we always see in fiction. Brightly embellished armour >>>>>> black biker leather. Sadly Bannerlord seems to be guilty of this problem in many ways (although some factions also subvert it, thankfully), especially with the Battanians who being Celt-inspired should be especially flamboyant. Instead they're mostly just dressed in rags. Also, in some screenshots it looks like they're living in ruins instead of towns. They're like the constitutional peasants/mud farmers from Monty Python's holy grail.

 

[Oxtocoatl]

There's a horse to give you an idea of scale here. Unless that horse is a week old, I... Here's a questionably relevant question for you all; If Talewords makes walls like this, how big would they model pyramids, and could you make limestone from the bones of all the dead slaves?
You could build walls this high, but it's a big case of diminishing returns. I think this is a city wall, rather than a castle wall, but I can't really be sure with the track record.  It's crazy stuff.
(also I don't see farms or any suggestion of this place being a strategic point, so what's it's purpose?)

I don`t know about the height being wrong, some castles did have quite massive walls. Building big wasn`t just a strategic necessity, but also a way to show off one`s prestige and wealth. You could compare having the tallest tower in the kingdom to having the biggest car (or the biggest nuclear button).

Of course, to counter the massiveness of castles like that one, it would be fun to have some comparatively much smaller and more intimate castles, with walls maybe just twice a man`s height and only a few small buildings inside. Perhaps some of the early castles will be like this. That way the truly big castles will seem awe-inspiring and majestic.

The importance of the castle`s strategic location is something that belongs more on the campaign map. You know, castles would guard passes, fords and other choke points. Not all castles are built atop hills or on islands, though I would love to see some of those in-game. This being said, the campaign map surroundings of a castle should be apparent on the scene. For example, if a castle is at the high point of a steep mountain pass, the scene should feature that pass. If it guards a river crossing, have that river be on the scene.

What I do agree with is that there should be farms, fields and homes around the castle. Living close to a safe place just makes sense. Even if a castle would be built somewhere not very populated, the castle would draw people to it, both to feed the castle and enjoy it`s protection.

Regarding your general point, I don`t think the size of the interiors is of any major atmospheric importance. Far more could be achieved with decorations, like walls hangings or murals or music and sounds. Authentic medieval architecture is, in my opinion, most important when viewing buildings from outside: when you`re walking on the streets. There you should be met by a flurry of sounds, of people, animals (medieval towndwellers often owned animals and kept them on their backyards), plentiful colours, a maze of narrow streets, buildings with overhanging second floors, etc. In the magic world of games it`s also possible to have buildings which are smaller on the outside than they are inside, thus providing a more accurate experience while making sure the camera works properly and the scenes do not feel claustrophobic, which is what a lot of medieval houses would feel like today.

But yes, more colours please. I want colourful clothes, buildings, banners and interiors. Depicting the middle ages with nothing but grey and brown is like depicting the ancient world as nothing but white marble. It`s wrong, is what it is.