I have posted about 2-3 things before, but will not again. Anything posted here will not be repeated (promise!).
About me (no bragging or anything implied): I'm a teacher in my 30s, who's also into game designs for board games and rpgs. I don't have the time and money to help testing out Bannerlord for every update, it has also been impossible for me to figure out what features in the game are working as intended or not (since the game isn't telling me enough, nor can I navigate this forum perfectly).
Version: e1.4.1 hotfix 05/06/20
Installed community-made modifications: none
Computer Specs: Acer Predator Helios 300
OS: Win10
GPU: GeForce RTX 2060
CPU: intel core i7 9th gen
RAM: 16GB
Motherboard: ?
Storage Device (HDD/SSD): SSD
1.) GAMEPLAY THAT NEEDS FIXING:
a) Map movement, game speed acceleration:
What are the conditions? Enemy parties nearby chasing? In any case, stop it!
*It's plain unfair (and unrelated to the game mechanics, more like telling a COD play to shut on of his eyes.)
There's no way to know when the game speed accelerates and this leads more to misclicking on the map.
*It's annoying as hell: Because even when no hostile party that can threaten me is around, this STILL happens, and the game goes back and forth from fast to slow speed.
*Seriously, please don't tell me I'm the only annoyed by this.
b) Successful Siege, aftermath:
Player and NPC parties are left outside after successful siege - Is this intentional? Please tell me no. Because...
*It's illogical and breaks immersion. Why would any army go back to camp (it's not even close, it's like a few in-game hours away! Like, prisoners can actually escape before getting into town!) after taking a town or castle?
*It's unfair: A victorious army is battered and wounded, and also probably slowed down from prisoners...only to be surrounded by an army waiting? Even if that sounds realistic, the victorious army will have the chance to retreat behind the walls and defend.
*Let's suppose this is intentional...the following needs to be fixed then: It is possible for another army to wait around the siege, then actually getting to the town/castle BEFORE the sieging party, maybe start a siege and keep the other army out? --> Yes! ==> So, no.
c) Stats are BONKERS, also, skills vs attributes:
*It's impossible to know/understand which is more valuable, high skill or high attribute for new players.
But here's the issue (especially with companions):
A (lvl 9) has 0 skill (one-handed) VIG 7 vs B (lvl 14) 120 skill (one-handed) VIG 4.
Now, it looks like B is better than A, but there is a VIG 3 difference. This means (with 1 attribute every 4 levels), and also considering that A can get VIG +1 at lvl 12, that for B to get to VIG 11 (so you can reach skill 250 with 5 skill foci), B needs a minimum level of lvl 40, as opposed to A with lvl 24 (by the time A'd have easily 5 foci in that skill, as well as surpassed 120).
For a player hero, this is impossible at first to figure out. For companions, this can easily break them, because they come with random attributes. While wanderer skills seem balanced, their attributes (not shown in the Encyclopedia!!) are way more important. Also, wanderer attributes and skills are out of balance, it's possible for a wanderer to have 100 skill in an 2 attribute (0 focus), or a "warrior" wanderer having high (wasted) attributes in CHA or INT.
d) Saving a village from a raid isn't improving relations!
This is rather minor, but "saving villagers improving relations" has already been implemented, which is a great improvement over Warband. This oversight is still important though, since it'll provide incentive to save a village being raided from a lord.
e) Talking to lords in an army
Unless I'm an ally, I can't talk to individual lords in an army (just the army leader)...is this by design? In any case, this isn't exactly logical...heck, I am even allowed to talk to a hostile town's VIPs over the wall! Also, I can't even talk to the army leader if the army is sieging a town/castle, which is also something I don't understand, if this is by design.
f) Ways to make money: Tavern games, tournaments
I understand that balance is difficult and necessary. But at the current version, only fighting, manual trading, caravans, are a viable source of income. This is such a pity...a lot of work has already gone into the tavern games and new tournaments. I don't understand why there is a need to keep rewards of both in such a crippled state. A tavern game lasts 5-10min, for max of 500, risk 500 denars and 0 reputation (and no possible skill gain). A tournament win takes also around 8min, for 3 reputation and denar rewards from 1600 to 120, risk 600 denars.
Compared to that, one can hunt 3-4 looter parties in that time (not simulated!) for the same, with no denar risk and no actual challenge.
On a trade run, just the visit of one town will on average net 1000-6000 denars, no risk of loss, 0 reputation.
Debate tavern games if you want, but tournament rewards have been under criticism since the time of Warband. Pretty much every mod has improved it.
g) Wanderers
The game needs more wanderers. It appears (not sure) that the game doesn't add usable wanderers over time, which is also a pity. I hope this is already being planned.
h) Courting, skills, kingdom+town+castle management, sieges
Since these are already being addressed, I'll not lose words here.
One thing though: Would it be too much to ask, to color the skills that are not implemented/not working? I mean, this isn't a lot of work and will also stop people from spamming the forum with skill issues.
2.) PRAISE
I liked Warband, I've played Warband a LOT, even native. But I never thought it was a good game...mods made it good. Bugs were not the issue, not even faction balance, just gameplay stuff: Mainly mechanics that ONLY affected the player but not the npcs, which killed immersion.
Honestly, I bought Bannerlord for upcoming mods, but seeing all the work put in over the years, I had high hopes. I was a little disappointed that the game isn't as finished or polished as hoped after a long development time, BUT....it's seriously fun. I didn't expect Bannerlord native to be fun, but it is.
All the work put into the feel, looks and new Calradian lore and for me personally, the music: All this is melding together into a good game.
Stay safe and healthy, and keep up the good work! I sincerely hope that native won't become obsolete even when mods are released!
About me (no bragging or anything implied): I'm a teacher in my 30s, who's also into game designs for board games and rpgs. I don't have the time and money to help testing out Bannerlord for every update, it has also been impossible for me to figure out what features in the game are working as intended or not (since the game isn't telling me enough, nor can I navigate this forum perfectly).
Version: e1.4.1 hotfix 05/06/20
Installed community-made modifications: none
Computer Specs: Acer Predator Helios 300
OS: Win10
GPU: GeForce RTX 2060
CPU: intel core i7 9th gen
RAM: 16GB
Motherboard: ?
Storage Device (HDD/SSD): SSD
1.) GAMEPLAY THAT NEEDS FIXING:
a) Map movement, game speed acceleration:
What are the conditions? Enemy parties nearby chasing? In any case, stop it!
*It's plain unfair (and unrelated to the game mechanics, more like telling a COD play to shut on of his eyes.)
There's no way to know when the game speed accelerates and this leads more to misclicking on the map.
*It's annoying as hell: Because even when no hostile party that can threaten me is around, this STILL happens, and the game goes back and forth from fast to slow speed.
*Seriously, please don't tell me I'm the only annoyed by this.
b) Successful Siege, aftermath:
Player and NPC parties are left outside after successful siege - Is this intentional? Please tell me no. Because...
*It's illogical and breaks immersion. Why would any army go back to camp (it's not even close, it's like a few in-game hours away! Like, prisoners can actually escape before getting into town!) after taking a town or castle?
*It's unfair: A victorious army is battered and wounded, and also probably slowed down from prisoners...only to be surrounded by an army waiting? Even if that sounds realistic, the victorious army will have the chance to retreat behind the walls and defend.
*Let's suppose this is intentional...the following needs to be fixed then: It is possible for another army to wait around the siege, then actually getting to the town/castle BEFORE the sieging party, maybe start a siege and keep the other army out? --> Yes! ==> So, no.
c) Stats are BONKERS, also, skills vs attributes:
*It's impossible to know/understand which is more valuable, high skill or high attribute for new players.
But here's the issue (especially with companions):
A (lvl 9) has 0 skill (one-handed) VIG 7 vs B (lvl 14) 120 skill (one-handed) VIG 4.
Now, it looks like B is better than A, but there is a VIG 3 difference. This means (with 1 attribute every 4 levels), and also considering that A can get VIG +1 at lvl 12, that for B to get to VIG 11 (so you can reach skill 250 with 5 skill foci), B needs a minimum level of lvl 40, as opposed to A with lvl 24 (by the time A'd have easily 5 foci in that skill, as well as surpassed 120).
For a player hero, this is impossible at first to figure out. For companions, this can easily break them, because they come with random attributes. While wanderer skills seem balanced, their attributes (not shown in the Encyclopedia!!) are way more important. Also, wanderer attributes and skills are out of balance, it's possible for a wanderer to have 100 skill in an 2 attribute (0 focus), or a "warrior" wanderer having high (wasted) attributes in CHA or INT.
d) Saving a village from a raid isn't improving relations!
This is rather minor, but "saving villagers improving relations" has already been implemented, which is a great improvement over Warband. This oversight is still important though, since it'll provide incentive to save a village being raided from a lord.
e) Talking to lords in an army
Unless I'm an ally, I can't talk to individual lords in an army (just the army leader)...is this by design? In any case, this isn't exactly logical...heck, I am even allowed to talk to a hostile town's VIPs over the wall! Also, I can't even talk to the army leader if the army is sieging a town/castle, which is also something I don't understand, if this is by design.
f) Ways to make money: Tavern games, tournaments
I understand that balance is difficult and necessary. But at the current version, only fighting, manual trading, caravans, are a viable source of income. This is such a pity...a lot of work has already gone into the tavern games and new tournaments. I don't understand why there is a need to keep rewards of both in such a crippled state. A tavern game lasts 5-10min, for max of 500, risk 500 denars and 0 reputation (and no possible skill gain). A tournament win takes also around 8min, for 3 reputation and denar rewards from 1600 to 120, risk 600 denars.
Compared to that, one can hunt 3-4 looter parties in that time (not simulated!) for the same, with no denar risk and no actual challenge.
On a trade run, just the visit of one town will on average net 1000-6000 denars, no risk of loss, 0 reputation.
Debate tavern games if you want, but tournament rewards have been under criticism since the time of Warband. Pretty much every mod has improved it.
g) Wanderers
The game needs more wanderers. It appears (not sure) that the game doesn't add usable wanderers over time, which is also a pity. I hope this is already being planned.
h) Courting, skills, kingdom+town+castle management, sieges
Since these are already being addressed, I'll not lose words here.
One thing though: Would it be too much to ask, to color the skills that are not implemented/not working? I mean, this isn't a lot of work and will also stop people from spamming the forum with skill issues.
2.) PRAISE
I liked Warband, I've played Warband a LOT, even native. But I never thought it was a good game...mods made it good. Bugs were not the issue, not even faction balance, just gameplay stuff: Mainly mechanics that ONLY affected the player but not the npcs, which killed immersion.
Honestly, I bought Bannerlord for upcoming mods, but seeing all the work put in over the years, I had high hopes. I was a little disappointed that the game isn't as finished or polished as hoped after a long development time, BUT....it's seriously fun. I didn't expect Bannerlord native to be fun, but it is.
All the work put into the feel, looks and new Calradian lore and for me personally, the music: All this is melding together into a good game.
Stay safe and healthy, and keep up the good work! I sincerely hope that native won't become obsolete even when mods are released!
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