Don't feel pressured Taleworlds

[RandomL]

I too was once raging at the long development time of Mount and Blade Bannerlords. After playing through Warbands, once in vanilla and another with the PoP mod I was hungry for more. Viking Conquest launched and I was overjoyed but it left a lot to be desired, especially at launch. Fast forward a few years and I'm still "memeing" and ragging on Bannerlords for not coming out but the industry begins to change. More and more games start releasing in a rushed and buggy state. Game breaking bugs of all types become the norm and can be found exceedingly often, as if game publishers never even tested their games before putting them out. This all culminated with the release of Fallout 76, where one of the gaming titans; Bethesda, launched an utterly broken and minimal effort for maximum gain videogame...

So I've had a change of heart and "see the light" so to speak. Don't feel rushed by all these angry fans, they are only mad because they love your games so much. Developers who take their time with games and release a quality product are exactly what the industry needs. Whenever you guys do decide to release Bannerlords it will be a massive hit and every single fan of Mount and Blade will buy it despite the long development time. Thanks for being up front about what's going on behind the scenes and thank you for taking the heat like adults.

 

[Orion]

Spoiler

 

[Lord Brutus]

I like this guy.  Let's keep him. 

 

[NPC99]

They do feel pressured. It’s only natural given how much time and effort they’ve invested to cross the finishing line.

Looking back on 10 years of Mount and Blade, the first thing that Yavuz feels is anxiety. Mount and Blade's first official sequel, Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord, is still in development with a long-awaited but unannounced release date. "It freaks me out and it makes me feel old a little bit. It's mostly to do with Bannerlord being a bit late. I'd be more relaxed about it if Bannerlord was released. I'd be more relaxed about it and pop some champagne, but instead I just want to work faster."
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-mount-and-blade-empire-began-with-a-forum-post/

“We are actually working very hard. Unfortunately, the last few months, almost, our team has been working like crazy. Working like 80 hours a week. Almost like seven days. So we are working very hard. But we still don’t know. We don’t have an exact release date.”
https://www.pcgamesn.com/mount-blade-2-bannerlord/mount-blade-2-bannerlord-crunch

Fans can’t make TW’s task any easier, but we can make it tougher with demotivating comments.

 

[John_M]

“We are actually working very hard. Unfortunately, the last few months, almost, our team has been working like crazy. Working like 80 hours a week. Almost like seven days. So we are working very hard. But we still don’t know. We don’t have an exact release date.”
https://www.pcgamesn.com/mount-blade-2-bannerlord/mount-blade-2-bannerlord-crunch

If I remember correctly that was directed specifically at preparing the Gamescom demo.

 

[NPC99]

“We are actually working very hard. Unfortunately, the last few months, almost, our team has been working like crazy. Working like 80 hours a week. Almost like seven days. So we are working very hard. But we still don’t know. We don’t have an exact release date.”
https://www.pcgamesn.com/mount-blade-2-bannerlord/mount-blade-2-bannerlord-crunch

If I remember correctly that was directed specifically at preparing the Gamescom demo.

True.

 

[Trueten]

Yeah, I felt the same rage. I had a break from M&B and gaming overall for about 3 years, and then got nostalgic and was like 'hey, I remember being very hyped over that M&B 2 thing. Gotta look up if its out and how many mods are done already'.
And so I entered a fan forum (not TW) and the top news was about 'New development diary' and the first comment was 'hell, I've already reached the pension and the game isn't out yet!!!'.

But yes, the recent Bethesda and others' experience shows good enough what happens if you do a decent game in a rush.

And it also occured to me that M&B is one out 3-4 games I will always have on my PC.

 

[Munby]

good call. but at the same time, I would like to actually play it at some stage

 

[killer-blead]

Taleworlds, do give in to pressure, all the cool kids are smoking so why shouldn't you? 

 

[Lord Engineer (Castor)]

I've experienced my fair share of rushed, unfinished, broken games with ruined potential and hardly any content and it usually comes to some internal issue with the company and or pressure from a publisher (it's the video game equivalent of 'studio interference'). I don't want Bannerlord to be ruined by similar events as I feel the game has so much potential and it would be a real shame if that was squandered in the name of meeting deadlines or pleasing ravenous fans.

I know a lot of people critic Taleworlds' PR but honestly, it's far nicer to see that there is actually something there. That I applaud Taleworlds for, while it has ruined some of the surprise it also shows that there is progress being made, that there is still a good chance for players to actually play the full game at one point.

 

[killer-blead]

Yeah, I hope Taleworlds will look at this thread as a morale boost. We greatly appreciate all the effort and detail you put into this game. We would much rather like to have a full complete game with as little bugs as possible and enough features to keep the beginning/middle and end game of bannerlord as fun as possible instead of a rushed game.

 

[Noudelle]

I've experienced my fair share of rushed, unfinished, broken games with ruined potential and hardly any content and it usually comes to some internal issue with the company and or pressure from a publisher (it's the video game equivalent of 'studio interference'). I don't want Bannerlord to be ruined by similar events as I feel the game has so much potential and it would be a real shame if that was squandered in the name of meeting deadlines or pleasing ravenous fans.

I know a lot of people critic Taleworlds' PR but honestly, it's far nicer to see that there is actually something there. That I applaud Taleworlds for, while it has ruined some of the surprise it also shows that there is progress being made, that there is still a good chance for players to actually play the full game at one point.

Well said.

 

[Terco_Viejo]

Spoiler: i had to

It looks like 2019 is going to be a promising year...

 

[Gerard_de_reinee]

You guys made my childhood with your games. I'll get atleast 3 copies of Bannerlord whenever it's released and I'm going to give it another 6000 hours if it's as good as Warband. Take your time and don't forget we fans are still here.

 

[wormydowg]

@Whole Thread

What ever.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

>The developers should release the game later rather than sooner so it'll be polished

There are plenty of cases of this not being the case, to the point where I don't think it's useful to think linearly in these terms. Many of the most polished and well-designed games have average development times, while the longest development times I can think of have resulted in absolute garbage. A lot of the rushed big budget games that come out could have done with a few months of development time, not half a decade.

 

[RoboSenshi]

@OP
I disagree. It's been cooking long enough in my opinion. Just get it out there and see how people like it. I've always been for early access. Didn't Taleworlds pretty much invent the damn thing?

I won't lie and say I'm not disappointed that 2018 is almost ending and I haven't played the game yet. I believe the fan base trusts TW to duly fix any issues presented at the launch of an EA. I'm afraid that if a release drought stretches even further than Q1 2019, TW would do some irreparable damage to both their loyal customer base and casual gamers.

A video about the release date issue:

Spoiler

And Taleworlds reply:

Spoiler

 

[Noudelle]

@OP
I disagree. It's been cooking long enough in my opinion. Just get it out there and see how people like it. I've always been for early access. Didn't Taleworlds pretty much invent the damn thing?

I won't lie and say I'm not disappointed that 2018 is almost ending and I haven't played the game yet. I believe the fan base trusts TW to duly fix any issues presented at the launch of an EA. I'm afraid that if a release drought stretches even further than Q1 2019, TW would do some irreparable damage to both their loyal customer base and casual gamers.

True.
I do wish they'd at least release the multiplayer already. I can't imagine that it isn't more or less complete yet honestly.
I can understand why they wouldn't want to do a staggered release from a business-standpoint though. Even though I don't agree with it.

 

[Orion]

The Warband multiplayer beta started a couple months before the SP beta, so there's precedent for that.

 

[quicksilver67]

First, let me say that I own all the titles Taleworlds or their associates have released. I have always supported their projects, and I will likely buy their Bannerlord, whenever it is released.

However...

Six years ago, one of the first things that was released for this title were a bunch of allegedly "in-game" shots. Having seen some of the art previously, it was immediately obvious that the shots had come from within the existing game, so I called them on it. That kind of behavior is not helpful for building confidence in a game developer. The fan boys roared away at me, but six years later, that little bit of mis-direction is forgotten, and we're still waiting.

The Mount & Blade title was dated when the original was released. At the time, a lot of people argued, "well, gameplay is more important than graphics," and maybe they had a point. But that's changed - completely and utterly. Consumers have far more powerful machines, graphics cards with massive capabilities, connection speeds 100x or more the speed that was available back then, and those consumers expect a unification of game aspects. Using "gameplay" as a justification for an out-dated release will not save this title.

IMO, six years is a bit too long for this sort of thing. One of the main issues is the rapid advance of technology, and the resulting dating of the game engine, the graphics, compression formats, RAM utilization, etc. It isn't just this game or this company - it's happening all over, whether it's an Indie on Steam, or a professional game company. There's another problem: competition. While this game remains arguably the best in the genre for non-target combat, mounted combat and (despite what a bunch of fanboys have said), archery combat, there are others that are using the same concepts with far better graphics, with a goal towards complete multi-player and modding support. While most aren't quite there yet, they ARE getting there, and when that happens, if this title isn't the best thing since sliced bread, it's going to get shelved. That's a viable concern, given the (IMO) garbage that's been released using the old game engine, as well as the bugs and missing features that haven't been addressed since the original release. 

There's been a lot of hype coming about this upcoming title, but the longer it goes without a release date indicated, the more meaningless the hype becomes. I've read interviews suggesting that the window for 2016 was "narrowly missed," only to read a year later that the 2017 window was also "missed." And now it appears that 2018 will be yet another "missed window." We see footage released from conventions, but I think most people understand that there is a vast difference between a carefully controlled presentation, and the release of an actual working game.

We're about to start into yet another year, and I have to wonder if this developer isn't running on vapor right now. IMO, this project needs to be finished, or else sold to a developer who can finish it. No, don't rush and release garbage. Don't release it as an "EA" title. I think we all know the kind of junk being sold under the guise of "EA" which remains "EA" for years on end. However, this project does need to conclude. There does need to be a release date, and I think that the consumers that have supported this game all these years deserve a progress report from time to time. And I don't mean a developer blog that talks about the shading on horses.