Difficulty compared to earlier games?

[WCG]

I was terrible at the original Mount & Blade, but I could still play it - on the easiest difficulty settings - and I had a blast. But Warband was a complete waste of money. They made the game harder in a lot of ways that just seemed silly to me (like lances jumping from one side of my horse to the other, seemingly at random). At least in the first game I could just equip a lance and point my horse in the right direction!

Anyway, I could lead troops, but I couldn't fight, so... that was no fun. They seemed to shorten weapon lengths, too, so that using another weapon on horseback didn't work for me, either. And I couldn't participate in tournaments, since they made the arenas so small that, whenever I was given a lance, I couldn't use it for anything at all. (My horse could never get up enough speed to couch the lance, yet I couldn't use it as a melee weapon.) Very disappointing!

Anyway, I'm understandably gun-shy, and I've heard... different things about Bannerlord. Yes, I know that there are difficulty settings. But are there really options for people like me, who buy lots of games, but aren't ever going to be good at 'real-time' combat? How does the difficulty in the combat in Bannerlord compare with the earlier games?

PS. I buy tons of games, and I've been playing computer games for 35 years. But they didn't exist when I was a kid, and I'm never going to get good at 'real-time' games. And given my back problems, I won't be able to play for hours and hours at a time, anyway. I just want to enjoy the game,... if I can. If I can't, I'll play something else.

Thanks.

 

[ricewind]

For me Bannerlord is more diffilcult than Warband (maybe because I have spend less time playing it than Warband which would make totally sense). Basically I was a distroyer who could face 10 enemies without a problem ? which is not the case in this game (AI improvement for shure).

I recommend you to look at Nexus.com there are a few mods that lets you tweak your character (more hitpoints, modify skills level, etc.) + you can always use the cheats in the game (health regen and so on). I get your point, continously dying is not fun, but don't let that downside waste your gameplay hope i could help

 

[kekkuli5]

It's much harder and you have to be much more careful even on lowest difficulty settings. There is no automatic block yet (though it's coming) Fighting on horseback is harder as well. Fighting against multiple opponents can be the end of you in matter of seconds. Shooting with bows is easy, but AI archers are also much more deadly.

 

[SoldierHair]

Fighting is way harder because they ****ed the camera angles. Being a commander is way easier and you have a lot more options + your troops actually play their roles: shieldwalls staying in formation, horse archers avoiding and encircling enemies, cavalry charging, retreating and charging again etc. Overall it feels way better if you just want to play the commander role.

 

[Falrock]

Games require practice and patience to get better. You gotta hone your skills and that's part of the fun of them. That said, you don't really have to fight all that much in Bannerlord a part from questing - you could just sit back and order your troops to murder enemies.

 

[SoldierHair]

The people that are trying to give advice on how to get better are missing the entire point of the thread, Jesus Christ. It's almost like they didn't even read the OP.

 

[samirocks123]

The people that are trying to give advice on how to get better are missing the entire point of the thread, Jesus Christ. It's almost like they didn't even read the OP.

"How does the difficulty in the combat in Bannerlord compare with the earlier games?"

 

[Mppqlmd]

Is the "yolo one man army" strategy harder ? Yes. You can't charge 50 sea raiders alone and expect to win.

Is the actual game harder ? No. I feel like it's actually easier to pull your army through victory in this one.

 

[Narduiran]

I find the combat much harder. Whereas in Warband I could solo 150 looters on horseback, I get wrecked by less than 10 now. Even killing a looter with a couched lance, it is possible for him to also spear my horse (or me), stopping me dead in my tracks. Armor also does seem to absorb less damage.

 

[MBeagleguy]

I think the difficulty is in a good place with the game, however I can see how some just want to have a "story mode" and not feel like the odds are against them.

Several people in the thread gave good points that you have to realize this is a new game that will take some practice and it's more tactical. It's good that Taleworlds doesn't use a carbon copy template that other games use. It's what makes Mount & Blade such a unique game.

 

[WCG]

The people that are trying to give advice on how to get better are missing the entire point of the thread, Jesus Christ. It's almost like they didn't even read the OP.

Yes, I agree. But I appreciate the replies, nonetheless.

And yes, I also know I could just play as a commander. I could do that in Warband, too, but it wasn't fun. The original game was fun because of the combat, even when I was terrible at it.

If this is even harder than Warband, then forget it. I'll just play something else instead. Maybe I'll wait for mods and try it when the game gets super-cheap.

It's just that watching videos of this make me remember how much fun the original game was. But that one stopped working for me when I upgraded to Windows 10 (and I've got it on two different platforms, plus my original purchase directly from Taleworlds).

Thanks again for the replies, everyone.

 

[Mppqlmd]

That's fair. I can understand that the "general" approach is less fun than the "one man army", i'm just pointing that i think that's the direction this game is going, which i can understand is less appealing for some people.

From the buff to looters to the nerf to mounted combat, i really think they try to force you to have an army.

 

[Narduiran]

The main thing I have against the difficulty is that on siege attacks where I'm not the commander, I haven't found any better thing to do than just stay away from combat because there is no way to survive going up a ladder if there's more than 2-3 enemies nearby. Commanding your troops doesn't work then.

 

[ZincAzN]

I'd say sword n' board is your best bet for trying to play the game as smoothly as possible.

1vX fights have gotten a lot harder in this one purely because the AI fights a bit smarter and are more willing to utilise feints and flank you properly instead of just bumrushing you like in previous installments, looters are now a mild threat because the rocks actually flinch and do some damage to you and your mount, and overall the entire sandbox is quite a bit more lethal than before.

I would try and get your hands on some of the longer polearms and swords for horseback (110+ length swords are a relatively nice sweetspot) if bashing heads is your playstyle.

Personally I enjoy the Menavilion (Empire 2h Polearm that you can swing side to side and overhead with) and Rhomphalia (Battanian polearm which is basically a falx on a stick), both are relatively long, kind of punishing if you miss your swing as followups are slow, but they cut through most unit types like butter.

Some tourney reward weapons like 'Early Retirement' (1h/2h sword that plays like the Bastard Sword in previous installments) are also good options, although I'd need to get my hands on all of them to actually play with them.

Polearms are also overall MUCH better in this game, as actually jabbing and stabbing with them does damage even when not on horseback or with less speed than usual, you just need space to wind up.

 

[Lovec1990]

I was terrible at the original Mount & Blade, but I could still play it - on the easiest difficulty settings - and I had a blast. But Warband was a complete waste of money. They made the game harder in a lot of ways that just seemed silly to me (like lances jumping from one side of my horse to the other, seemingly at random). At least in the first game I could just equip a lance and point my horse in the right direction!

Anyway, I could lead troops, but I couldn't fight, so... that was no fun. They seemed to shorten weapon lengths, too, so that using another weapon on horseback didn't work for me, either. And I couldn't participate in tournaments, since they made the arenas so small that, whenever I was given a lance, I couldn't use it for anything at all. (My horse could never get up enough speed to couch the lance, yet I couldn't use it as a melee weapon.) Very disappointing!

Anyway, I'm understandably gun-shy, and I've heard... different things about Bannerlord. Yes, I know that there are difficulty settings. But are there really options for people like me, who buy lots of games, but aren't ever going to be good at 'real-time' combat? How does the difficulty in the combat in Bannerlord compare with the earlier games?

PS. I buy tons of games, and I've been playing computer games for 35 years. But they didn't exist when I was a kid, and I'm never going to get good at 'real-time' games. And given my back problems, I won't be able to play for hours and hours at a time, anyway. I just want to enjoy the game,... if I can. If I can't, I'll play something else.

Thanks.

Yes previous games were alot easier in sense you could solo alot more enemys, but in other hand Bannerlords combat is far more fun becouse you need too work with your/friendly army plus you need too be far more aware who you are attacking and have better situational awerness

 

[Mppqlmd]

For me the hardest solo experience was "With fire and sword", where any low level marksman could OS you with a headshot.

 

[MBeagleguy]

Yes previous games were alot easier in sense you could solo alot more enemys, but in other hand Bannerlords combat is far more fun becouse you need too work with your/friendly army plus you need too be far more aware who you are attacking and have better situational awerness

Agreed. I love the approach with Bannerlord. Makes the game long lasting and high replay value.

 

[Limbojack]

Melee combat is harder in Bannerlord than it was in Warband, which is a good thing, as the leveling system stops you from becoming too powerful. Even with the best gear and decent stats, you'll still lose against three high-tiered AI unites in most cases, so you're forced to place more cautiously unless you decide to be a horse archer which is easy mode.