Dev Blog 20/09/18

[parsehtml]<p><img class="frame" src="https://www.taleworlds.com/Images/News/blog_post_58_taleworldswebsite.jpg" alt="" width="575" height="290" /></p> <p>Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is a huge sandbox that allows you to approach the game and play it in the way that you want to. This means that there isn’t a linear storyline that you have to follow. However, the game does present you with quests that offer you a way to fill your purse while improving your relations with the various notables located around Calradia.</p></br> [/parsehtml]Read more at: http://www.taleworlds.com/en/Games/Bannerlord/Blog/78

 

[lolbash]

It's a fun video game, not military training. Warband is full to the brim with tedium and filler which could easily have been avoided, so anything that can alleviate some of that will only be good for the game.

A yellow exclamation point above the character's head is unrealistic. Why not do this: First, the hero must ask someone (for example, a tavernkeeper): 'Is there (in city) any work for me?' He tells the hero that someone can offer a task. Only then game should show exclamation point.

What's the point of this extra step? What does it add to the game? There's nothing to lose from asking people a general question, no gameplay involved, no player choices, it's just busywork. I can accept that the exclamation mark is just an indicator that you've asked a few people offscreen about quests.

Immersion, realism, for me it gains a lot. I'm not against the exclamation points but it's true that towards the years developers have started making more mechanics for the lazier players, now instead of acknowledging where you have to go in games, you have a literal arrow telling you where to go, and what to do, it makes the player lose independence and it screams out the fact that you're playing a videogame instead of living an experience (yes, it is a videgsme in the end but it's also an RPG). You don't have an enormous sign over characters in Dark Souls yet it makes people interact with the world and in the end they find out. No need for extensive tutorials, once you know the mechanics you're good to go. And talking to a bartender to look out for jobs doesn't seems like a serious hard job to me, knowing absolutely everything before my character does really draws me off, but whatever, I personally can live with it

I remember playing Morrowind. It bored me out of my mind. I abandoned it halfway. Wasn't challanging or anything. 95% of enemies went down with one cut due to extremly broken leveling mechanics. But it was just tedious...
Listen to vague directions, go to some forsaken desert and spend few hours of realtime looking for a certain cave... Of course you found several others on the way, but that wasn't it...Kill boss from cave (one shot kill), return to city, get money, get another cave quest, start looking again...

This is pretty much Morrowind experience.
When I was at school and had a lot of time to kill I didn't mind. But since I grew up (and avarage gamer's age got bigger as well) I am gratefull to devs that they spare me boring parts. I like challenging games, I usually look for insane / hardcore difficulties. But running around pointlesly? Naw, waste of precious free time.

+1

 

[TehRalph]

There are 50 towns on the map, each with 4 villages attached, and an unknown (to me) amount of castles each with 1 village attached. And we know villages have their own notables. If you would like to visually explore and seek out every notable in every town and village before you can speak to them, go for it, but please don't whine and beg Taleworlds to remove the super easy catering to pampered millennials exclamation mark easy-mode, because I for one will refuse to play this game if that's the case. Removing boring, tediums such as having to talk your companions to equip them, and implementing streamlined systems to allow for quicker access to repetitive tasks is the best thing they could have done for this series.

 

[Triune Impurity Rites 999]

There are 50 towns on the map, each with 4 villages attached, and an unknown (to me) amount of castles each with 1 village attached. And we know villages have their own notables. If you would like to visually explore and seek out every notable in every town and village before you can speak to them, go for it, but please don't whine and beg Taleworlds to remove the super easy catering to pampered millennials exclamation mark easy-mode, because I for one will refuse to play this game if that's the case. Removing boring, tediums such as having to talk your companions to equip them, and implementing streamlined systems to allow for quicker access to repetitive tasks is the best thing they could have done for this series.

I don't think it should be removed, simply an option, and if you really won't play the game because there aren't any arrows pointing the way.... 

 

[TehRalph]

I don't think it should be removed, simply an option, and if you really won't play the game because there aren't any arrows pointing the way.... 

No, I wouldn't play the game because I would be forced to go through the tedious process of seeking out over a thousand NPCs to ask them if they have a simple task for me.

 

[ArnulfFloyd]

I suspect as I cant stand RPGs because getting companions and quests is too boring and tedious to me. I enjoy Bannerlord as TW adding more strategy than in WB

 

[lolbash]

I don't think it should be removed, simply an option, and if you really won't play the game because there aren't any arrows pointing the way.... 

No, I wouldn't play the game because I would be forced to go through the tedious process of seeking out over a thousand NPCs to ask them if they have a simple task for me.

Don't forget the one quest in the Gamescom Demo where you haveto talk to the Accused, the Prisoner, the Accuser, and the Judge. Imagine all the walking in the entire towns and getting lost in the dungeon  and reading long texts for a 20 second battle against 1 person 

One of the players at gamescom spent 20 minutes walking around town to finish that quest because he did not know about the tab button. That is an insane amount of time wasted for a stupid quest for a dissappinting battle

 

[Triune Impurity Rites 999]

Hence the OPTION for such features. I personally don't mind running around and figuring out where things or people are. But I also don't play any TW for the quest feature. If you want to grind quests, or if you're that kind of player, by all means. However, I personally don't want to play with arrows leading me around. That's the kind of player I am. Hence making the function an option. Options will always be better than forced one way or another.

 

[ArnulfFloyd]

But I am bored of same repetitive discussions about quests, options were welcomed by me and all is resolved

 

[TehRalph]

Hence the OPTION for such features. I personally don't mind running around and figuring out where things or people are. But I also don't play any TW for the quest feature. If you want to grind quests, or if you're that kind of player, by all means. However, I personally don't want to play with arrows leading me around. That's the kind of player I am. Hence making the function an option. Options will always be better than forced one way or another.

I understand you support the option, but there are people who have made it clear they don't support the feature being in the game at all because it's unrealistic and it "pampers to lazy gamers".

 

[Dazzer]

I suspect as I cant stand RPGs because getting companions and quests is too boring and tedious to me. I enjoy Bannerlord as TW adding more strategy than in WB

So in essence you want Bannerlord to become fully a strategy game with mechanics copied from Total wars. It wont happen

 

[Revverie]

True, MB it's an hybrid, and I think that the roleplaying counterpart attracts most of the players

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

If that were true then nobody would play warband, because its roleplaying elements are worse than just about every other RPG around.
The main selling point and the main reason people seem to hear about mount and blade through word of mouth is that it's a rough amalgam of an RTS and an RPG. Neither of those "halves" would stand up on their own, even back in 2011. Imagine an overworld version of warband? Or a version where you couldn't recruit soldiers or capture cities, and had to do quests all day long?

 

[Imanis]

Hence the OPTION for such features. I personally don't mind running around and figuring out where things or people are. But I also don't play any TW for the quest feature. If you want to grind quests, or if you're that kind of player, by all means. However, I personally don't want to play with arrows leading me around. That's the kind of player I am. Hence making the function an option. Options will always be better than forced one way or another.

I understand you support the option, but there are people who have made it clear they don't support the feature being in the game at all because it's unrealistic and it "pampers to lazy gamers".

*Sigh* you dolt. He is advocating the player stance of not using those "pampered" features. It would undermine his own argument if he were to simply concede that it is better to not have the option, because his principal argument revolves around the universal fact that options should be made available, not so much that his choice of what features should be included reigns supreme.

Gee. TW fan boys are so obtuse. It is sad that people would be bothered that an option exists that permits a setup contrary to what their preferred position is. This is asinine and in direct opposition to TW's goals, which is to pander to an increasing player base.

 

[Rabies]

But I am bored of same repetitive discussions about quests, options were welcomed by me and all is resolved

Well, this thread is kind of about quests, so...

The main draw of M&B is, I think, the combat action part of the game, but also that it allows you to participate a 'living' world as well - to give a feeling of context to the action sequences that is in some way 'organic' in the way they appear to the player. Quests are an important part of an open world sandbox, because they give the player some direction and stuff to do before they've figured out how the world works. Once you've made some progress in the game, you don't need the quests so much because you're giving yourself 'missions' and things to do according to your character's improved standing in the world and your own objectives for further improving your position.

I hope the game recognises the player's standing in the gameworld - renown, noble rank, perhaps - when deciding what quests to give you from which notables, and gives you ones that suit. Otherwise it's really going to be the same as Warband. If you're a Lord, or even a King, you shouldn't be doing quests like delivering cattle or escorting caravans: those quests shouldn't be available any more, and there should be another set of higher level ones that fit your station - or at the very least, if you want to help out a shopkeeper (or whatever) in a town you own, then they shouldn't be paying you in the same way and you probably ought to be able to delegate the task to a lower-ranking companion or something. I just hope the quests fit the game situation, not only in terms of local bandit activity, or economic conditions, or whatever, but according to your own progress and reputation.

that would really make them feel worthwhile to keep doing them once you've moved up in the world.

 

[Triune Impurity Rites 999]

*Sigh* you dolt. He is advocating the player stance of not using those "pampered" features. It would undermine his own argument if he were to simply concede that it is better to not have the option, because his principal argument revolves around the universal fact that options should be made available, not so much that his choice of what features should be included reigns supreme.

Gee. TW fan boys are so obtuse. It is sad that people would be bothered that an option exists that permits a setup contrary to what their preferred position is. This is asinine and in direct opposition to TW's goals, which is to pander to an increasing player base.

Disregarding you calling me a dolt (what an old school insult!), I think we agree. At least if I read what you wrote correctly and made bold the text which is the fundamental reason why this whole discussion about [quest(s)]arrows and whatever is pointless, there are for some reason people who cannot sit on a fence. Most everyone has to pick a side.

 

[Lord Engineer (Castor)]

Hasn't it already been implemented in the form of an option? pressing the Alt key is not mandatory you know and the yellow quest icons that "pamper" players don't appear otherwise.

I agree that games are certainly much easier nowadays but I disagree about that being a bad thing. Yes a lot of modern game design is downright insulting but old game design was plainly unfair.

Bosses that would never miss, there were enemies that would come in swooping that were virtually impossible to dodge if you were too high, and you often had no idea what you were doing because you didn't even know the controls let alone the objective.

The games were fun but only after you spend hours trying to figure out how to do X. I reckon modern game design is trying to correct this, overcompensating with its simplicity.

So I like the idea of the Alt key showing you the way, because even though I got used to having no direction does not mean it was a good thing. Romantisation of games from the past are very different to the actual experience of playing them.

Also Taleworlds wants to increase their player base by making their game more accessible and I say power to them.

Edit: One other thing I forgot to mention: the general lack of saves (due to technical limitations) and guides were a real problem. The best guide you had was word of mouth from that guy with the friend who has cousin who he swears knows how to beat a game (this is a overdramatisation but it sums up what it felt like pretty nicely).

 

[Rabies]

Hasn't it already been implemented in the form of an option? pressing the Alt key is not mandatory you know and the yellow quest icons that "pamper" players don't appear otherwise.

I'd still prefer to have a setting in the options for the notables not to appear in the town/village menu on the campaign map until you'd 'met' that notable in the game already.

EDIT: And I'd like to be able to disable the exclamation marks in the menu screens that tell you which notables have new missions for you and which areas of the town have notables relevant to your current mission or situation. I think that detracts from the feeling of exploration you get when you first play the game, and I wouldn't really like to be told where to go like that by the game.

 

[Lord Engineer (Castor)]

Hasn't it already been implemented in the form of an option? pressing the Alt key is not mandatory you know and the yellow quest icons that "pamper" players don't appear otherwise.

I'd still prefer to have a setting in the options for the notables not to appear in the town/village menu on the campaign map until you'd 'met' that notable in the game already.

Yeah that's fine. More immersive anyway. Probably won't be in the base game but I'm sure it could be modded in.

Edit: Personally I don't mind.

 

[Rabies]

Yeah that's fine. More immersive anyway. Probably won't be in the base game but I'm sure it could be modded in.

Hopefully the devs are planning to include such options anyway. Or if not, that they can add them in without too much hassle if they see feedback like this.

 

[lolbash]

I'd still prefer to have a setting in the options for the notables not to appear in the town/village menu on the campaign map until you'd 'met' that notable in the game already.

completely ignores the problem that the exclamation UI solved in the first place (fast easy way to find opportunities).

I don care if it takes 5 seconds to talk to an NPC in a town to find another NPC to take a job. I want it to be 0 seconds. I don't care about exploring for clues and secret treasure chests. Which is why i am glad a helpful UI exclamation point over NPCs are implemented in the game by Taleworlds and hope they never remove it.