Early Access as defined by Tale Worlds

[fragtzack]

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord on Steam

A strategy/action RPG. Create a character, engage in diplomacy, craft, trade and conquer new lands in a vast medieval sandbox. Raise armies to lead into battle and command and fight alongside your troops in massive real-time battles using a deep but intuitive skill-based combat system.

store.steampowered.com

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?
“While we do not have a set date for a full release at this moment in time, we expect that the game will be in early access for around a year. Our focus is on ensuring that the game is fun and enjoyable rather than imposing a deadline that might have a negative impact on the final product.”


--- Tale Worlds has shown over the 3 months since Early Access release that Bannerlord is FAR from finished and will be in Early Access far beyond 1 year at the current rate of development.

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?
“There is no plan to change pricing after early access.”

--From searching Steam, I can find no other games at this price cost of Bannerlord in early access. Tale Worlds is charging a premium Cost$ for a game that is multi-years away from being complete and is lying to customers by:

1. Not accurately letting customers know the game is alpha stage
2. Not accurately projecting a time line to completion



In closing, I am fine with Bannerlord taking multi-years to complete. Am not fine with Tale Worlds not letting customers know the game is still Alpha stage, not letting customers know the true time lines to completion and most importantly charging premium cost$ for an alpha stage game.






--

 

[MostBlunted]

Oh boy, the TW defense force will come soon for ya.

I totally agree with you.

 

[Leader144]

*Waits until the Imperium strikes back with some Popcorn in his Hands*

Uh.. Why Would You Say Something So Controversial Yet So Brave?

 

[fragtzack]

I actually consider the current rate of development quite good. The programmers and actual game makers are doing a good job. I haven't played in months but I still read the release notes and checking in. I understand that current code refactor is underway, which takes time.

but..the heads of Tale Worlds and the Managers who decided on this "early access". Tale Worlds heads sold us an incomplete story of the state of Bannerlord AND charged premium prices for an alpha stage game what is AT LEAST 2 years away from being a gold status product.


Notice how in the "early access" notes as posted by Tale Worlds heads Tale Worlds states that:

1. Game is about 1 year away from being complete.
2. Missing features include:
--broken quests
--Towns are not unique
--Voices overs are not complete
--Localizations are not complet


None of the above are game breaking things IMO..and along with the "1 year away", thus the game sounds mostly feature complete with just some minor contents missing. Those missing features posted on Steam by Tale Worlds is missing huge pieces of the game, no way in heck that is all the missing features along with beta testing and balancing going to be done any where close to 1 year.

Take also into account the premium price $$ being asked for Bannerlord AND the above "missing features" I was under the impression when purchasing Bannerlord that Bannerlord was nearing beta stage or already in beta stage.

The community and customers are being let down is by the heads of Tale World and managers...NOT by the programmers/artists/testers/writers and actual game makers.

Shame on you heads of Tale Worlds. If Tale Worlds had been more honest in the "Early Access notes" as posted on Steam AND had a price $ to reflect the nature of Bannerlord being more in the middle of alpha stage and no where near beta stage.

I am changing my Steam review to negative because took me quite some time to realize how far Bannerlord is from being complete. Note, I played Bannerlord for about 175ish hours, so I certainly am well understanding of the missing content currently in Bannerlord.


TaleWorlds, Try a little more honesty with customers in the future.

Folks, if you are fed up with TaleWorlds heads as I am, post negative reviews on Steam. Negative reviews is the best way to make our voice heard.

Feel bad for the game makers(programmers, artists, testers, writers) of Bannerlord, for your managers and heads of Tale Worlds are hurting this game and by association your reputation.

 

[sanalaismine]

Games like factorio, rimworld and countless other famous, semi-famous games were (are) early access for a long time without a concrete date.

In terms of stage of the game, from what I get is exactly this kind of experience. Not fully fleshed out but playable at base game.

 

[danEN]

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord on Steam

A strategy/action RPG. Create a character, engage in diplomacy, craft, trade and conquer new lands in a vast medieval sandbox. Raise armies to lead into battle and command and fight alongside your troops in massive real-time battles using a deep but intuitive skill-based combat system.

store.steampowered.com

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?
“While we do not have a set date for a full release at this moment in time, we expect that the game will be in early access for around a year. Our focus is on ensuring that the game is fun and enjoyable rather than imposing a deadline that might have a negative impact on the final product.”


--- Tale Worlds has shown over the 3 months since Early Access release that Bannerlord is FAR from finished and will be in Early Access far beyond 1 year at the current rate of development.

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?
“There is no plan to change pricing after early access.”

--From searching Steam, I can find no other games at this price cost of Bannerlord in early access. Tale Worlds is charging a premium Cost$ for a game that is multi-years away from being complete and is lying to customers by:

1. Not accurately letting customers know the game is alpha stage
2. Not accurately projecting a time line to completion



In closing, I am fine with Bannerlord taking multi-years to complete. Am not fine with Tale Worlds not letting customers know the game is still Alpha stage, not letting customers know the true time lines to completion and most importantly charging premium cost$ for an alpha stage game.






--

 

[MostBlunted]

Games like factorio, rimworld and countless other famous, semi-famous games were (are) early access for a long time without a concrete date.

In terms of stage of the game, from what I get is exactly this kind of experience. Not fully fleshed out but playable at base game.

Both didn´t claim that they´ll be finished in around a year. Both were developed by small indie companies. Both weren´t sold for full price, not even close to full price.

I see a "small" difference in this comparision.

 

[Blood Gryphon]

+1

 

[fragtzack]

Both didn´t claim that they´ll be finished in around a year. Both were developed by small indie companies. Both weren´t sold for full price, not even close to full price.

I see a "small" difference in this comparision.

EXACTLY

I also played those early access games mentioned and many other early access games... Those other games all were honest about a road map, about timelines , about the alpha nature of the game AND they charged must less $$ because the game was clearly still in alpha stages.

TaleWorlds is not being honest in their statements on Early Access and are showing a deep lack of appreciations for customers by charging full $ for a game what is NO WHERE NEAR being ready to go to beta stage.

 

[babelfisch]

I guess the majority of players doesn't agree with you, otherwise Steam reviews would be worse.
I've seen many bad EA releases and they all got lots of negative reviews. Maybe the problem isn't the game but your expectations?

 

[sanalaismine]

Yes, one thing here I completely agree with you is that they should charge way less for the game in this state. Otherwise it's not in a state which cannot be acceptable for a EA game.

 

[babelfisch]

Yes, one thing here I completely agree with you is that they should charge way less for the game in this state. Otherwise it's not in a state which cannot be acceptable for a EA game.

I think this would be fair if you need to pay the full price of the final release.

 

[Leader144]

I guess the majority of players doesn't agree with you, otherwise Steam reviews would be worse.
I've seen many bad EA releases and they all got lots of negative reviews. Maybe the problem isn't the game but your expectations?

I see many positive reviews after half an hour playtime like "it's harvesting season".

And after some hours realized how flat with no feasts, diplomacy, etc it was and where to lazy or thrusting that the daily patches will fix it.

 

[sanalaismine]

And after some hours realized how flat with no feasts, diplomacy, etc it was and where to lazy or thrusting that the daily patches will fix it.

They're all gonna come for sure. If they had to make a choice on which feature to leave out for release, I don't expect that they would leave base combat or main map out. And if they take their time on more complex features like diplomacy and interactions, those will be much more polished than being rushed out.

 

[Cquarto91]

8 more years lol. Redoing some of the code will take time. Game is worth only $20 at the moment $50 is a scam for early access.

 

[pindabeep]

Has anyone noticed TW ALWAYS comes up with some excuses to delay the game? The newest trend is code refractor. I wonder what excuse they will use next.

 

[babelfisch]

I see many positive reviews after half an hour playtime like "it's harvesting season".

And after some hours realized how flat with no feasts, diplomacy, etc it was and where to lazy or thrusting that the daily patches will fix it.

Look at recent reviews, still 79% positive and the majority has 50-100 hours played.

By the way, I stopped playing after 50 hours as well. I played Warband for 10 years / 1000 hours, and I fully expect to do the same with Bannerlord. There is no reason to rush it for me.

I can understand that some people get frustrated after 500 hours in the current state, but nobody told them to invest that amount of time into an EA game...

 

[Magello]

I would have to say that this game is probably 2 years minimum away from being 90% complete from the current road map. TW seems to have trouble with finishing. I think they will just drop these features we are expecting because they just cannot get it done. The game is a good shell, a really good shell but I think we are kidding ourselves if we think Bannerlord will have what even half of what we are expecting. Many of these things everyone brings up that they will be adding wasn't listed or was mentioned years ago and I see no reason to believe it will be added.

The sad thing is this may actually be early access and they are just fleshing out and balancing what is included. There has not been shown much to make me think they will be adding more features then what they currently have over the course of, by their timetable, the next 8-9 months.

 

[sanalaismine]

I can understand that some people get frustrated after 500 hours in the current state, but nobody told them to invest that amount of time into an EA game...

Yes, that's the key of most of the frustration. People eventually run out of things to do and it becomes flavourless repetitive gameplay eventhough it was fun up to that point.

People need to chill and have some patience with the active development process.

Edit: And the game's huge player base doesn't help with the situation. So many hyped fans were waiting for this for a looong time. It's two sides of a coin. Good side is the game is still the best and beloved medievel combat sim, bad side is people want to play its full potential like yesterday.

 

[WhiteEyedSh4rk]

TaleWorlds is not being honest in their statements on Early Access and are showing a deep lack of appreciations for customers by charging full $ for a game what is NO WHERE NEAR being ready to go to beta stage.

They gave a discount right at the launch and you even got an even bigger discount if you owned another TW game. It was rather expensive for what we got, but its anything but a "deep lack of appreciation". They wrote about their gratefulness in the last blog and the (few active) devs also seem to be very appreciative of the community. They do a lot of strange, questional things without satisfying answers though.