Mount & Blade 2 lore is bland and boring

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VanCrio

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Hey guys,

Is it just me or the lore aspect of this game is boring and bland to the point of non-existence. Sure you have some different factions and some minor story flawors, but there is not much else that would hook me up. I treat this game more as a raw simulator than a living and breathing game.

Is it just me? Are they going to add more story elements to this game, or leave it and leave the rest to moders?

I really want this game to succeed and be a worthy sequel, but right now it is more of a letdown for me. :sad:
 
I agree, the game is bland, characters do not leave a mark in the game. They have no personality, no unique stories, they are all the same.
 
They could've made the lore interesting and deep, they said they would expand upon the lore from Warband, but they didn't. There was a lot of opportunity there too. A rich and deep Calradia with lore oozing from everywhere would've made the game much more alive, immersive, and cool. At times it feels like it could definitely be that, but 8 out of 10 times the game feels robotic and bland. The whole premise of a declining, long-reigning Empire and barbarian kingdoms, slowly chipping away at it, trying to take it down, a dimming light in a world falling into darkness, had so much potential.
 
The extent of the "lore" is tied with that stupid Banner and such. It's not that interesting. I liked how the original game you could actually dispose certain faction leaders in favor of their illegitimate brother or sister. Viking Conquest was even better.
 
The lore is very interesting, it's implementation that leaves ALOT (and i mean ALOT LOT) to be desired.

Beyond wiki entries and the half-assed "mainquest" what lore do we have? i know lore wasn't the strongest point of the series but they really should invest a bit more into this, Calradia doesn't needs to remain a blank kinda of Europe, they could go the direction of TES in it's amazing worldbuilding or ASOIAF in it's intrigues and political bickering that also manages to deliver a very interesting world even in a more "grounded" setting.
 
The game isn't a true RPG. It is a battle simulator with some strategy and RPG elements tacked on. I tend to play it like a first person total war game. If I tried to play it as an RPG I would be disappointed.
 
The game isn't a true RPG. It is a battle simulator with some strategy and RPG elements tacked on. I tend to play it like a first person total war game. If I tried to play it as an RPG I would be disappointed.
This is the only way I've been able to keep enjoying it. As well as using literally 100+ mods.
I treat this game more as a raw simulator than a living and breathing game.
This is the best way to describe it atm. The most disheartening thing is that TW don't seem to feel that way and consider what has been 'added' over the past year to be substantial.
 
I agree, the game is bland, characters do not leave a mark in the game. They have no personality, no unique stories, they are all the same.
Lore isn't implemented. For example battanians are ambusher but mechanic wise they are the same of other factions.
Embers of flame want a theocracy with a former emperor reincarnation but will join any barbarian faction that want to eradicate the empire because are just mercenaries.

Most of special NPC don't have unique trait, they have only few unique lines tied to story quest so delivered those are just regular npc
 
Sure you have some different factions
Typical fantasy roman like Empire faction
Typical fantasy mamelucs like faction
Typical fantasy mongolian like faction
Typical fantasy viking like faction
Typical fantasy barbarian like faction

And for me randomly generated heroes is just garbage and pure bore.
You cant see memes like this anymore, becouse your medic is a randonly generated guy with same fkn story.
 
As mentioned before the lore is actually there. If you read the city, village, character descriptions you can piece together quite an interesting story. The problem is like with so many things its just not communicated through game mechanics much.
 
They have an interesting lore, but they seem to have abandoned the storytelling as they can't even finish the game.
It would be perfect if they follow something like F&S, in which each faction will have different quests and storyline that tie into the main storyline.
 
in which each faction will have different quests and storyline that tie into the main storyline.
Now that would be freaking awesome, instead of the boring mainquest they could treat each faction as a quest hub for a regional storyline (optional that serves to add depth to the factions) and then a final main storyline that englobes them all kinda like the battle of Pendraic that we only hear about instead of participating, similar to how Viking Conquest did it's storyline too that was awesome.

The current mainquest is like talk to these 10 lords for some small lore snippets, do a thousand generic hideouts, deliver banner or keep it, conspiracy time, Azargos or Istiana makes half the world declare war on you because they are the medieval CIA for some reason lmao
 
Lore?? What lore?
It's practically non existent at this moment. Quests are just place holder text to make you grind for a few denars and say the game has + [insert high number] hours of gameplay.
I bet if we were to do a poll asking people if they enjoy doing quests you would struggle to get one "yes". Maybe you would have a few from secret dev accounts.

Life threatening nut sack kick >> Doing quests
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/swift-kick-groin-die/
grointraining.gif
 
The lore is very interesting, it's implementation that leaves ALOT (and i mean ALOT LOT) to be desired.
The problem is not that there is or isn't lore, or if it is good or bad, the problem is that none of it was considered when building the mechanics and world, so we are left with a bunch of empty words on a know-it-all encyclopedia.
Agreed with this. It's a mechanical issue, not a thematic one. They could add 30 pages of lore to dialogs and random NPCs and it would be a snoozefest because "lore" isn't actually what anyone wants. The Last Days or Warsword Conquest were impactful not because of the lore of their source material but because of all the additional systems and mechanics added in that back up that lore. As Bannerlord is, if you changed the names and icons, you would have no idea who any of the factions are - the theme is only surface deep, the same as Warband was, because making a bunch of distinct mechanics for each faction or clan is a ton of work and just making stuff that applies to the entire sandbox is more efficient use of your development time.

For example, consider the Empire-s. As-is, they're identical, just different shades of purple. Instead, what if the Northern Empire had a Senate system, where the Emperor will be deposed if they fail to keep the land secure and prosperous, and so the North tends towards peace and trade and the ruler has little influence over policies, being voted in and out every so often by the Senate. The Western Empire is ruled by its military, and the ruler's influence is a direct function of their military achievements, at risk of being replaced by another who has achieved greater victories or avoided embarrassing defeats. And the Southern Empire, remaining a hereditary monarchy, is ruled with absolute control and the rulership remains tied to the imperial bloodline, never leaving the Pethros clan.

Don't think too much about the balance or gameplay or historicity or whatever of those ideas, they're just demonstrative. The Empires would be more distinctive, and with each additional layer of uniqueness like that, each faction and clan and character in Bannerlord would feel more fleshed out and interesting. When people complain about the lore being bland, that's what they want.

(And I get why it's not there; it's a lot of work and it's all non-transferable, those weeks spent on the Empire do nothing for everyone else compared to the same time spent on, like, trade and battle mechanics, or whatever. Theoretically it's something modders could take a swing at, but the stumbling blocks for modders are well known at this point. But that's what people ITT are actually asking for.)
 
Agreed with this. It's a mechanical issue, not a thematic one. They could add 30 pages of lore to dialogs and random NPCs and it would be a snoozefest because "lore" isn't actually what anyone wants. The Last Days or Warsword Conquest were impactful not because of the lore of their source material but because of all the additional systems and mechanics added in that back up that lore. As Bannerlord is, if you changed the names and icons, you would have no idea who any of the factions are - the theme is only surface deep, the same as Warband was, because making a bunch of distinct mechanics for each faction or clan is a ton of work and just making stuff that applies to the entire sandbox is more efficient use of your development time.

For example, consider the Empire-s. As-is, they're identical, just different shades of purple. Instead, what if the Northern Empire had a Senate system, where the Emperor will be deposed if they fail to keep the land secure and prosperous, and so the North tends towards peace and trade and the ruler has little influence over policies, being voted in and out every so often by the Senate. The Western Empire is ruled by its military, and the ruler's influence is a direct function of their military achievements, at risk of being replaced by another who has achieved greater victories or avoided embarrassing defeats. And the Southern Empire, remaining a hereditary monarchy, is ruled with absolute control and the rulership remains tied to the imperial bloodline, never leaving the Pethros clan.

Don't think too much about the balance or gameplay or historicity or whatever of those ideas, they're just demonstrative. The Empires would be more distinctive, and with each additional layer of uniqueness like that, each faction and clan and character in Bannerlord would feel more fleshed out and interesting. When people complain about the lore being bland, that's what they want.

(And I get why it's not there; it's a lot of work and it's all non-transferable, those weeks spent on the Empire do nothing for everyone else compared to the same time spent on, like, trade and battle mechanics, or whatever. Theoretically it's something modders could take a swing at, but the stumbling blocks for modders are well known at this point. But that's what people ITT are actually asking for.)
+1. You hit the nail on the head man, but alas, that which we are trying to help build, will be left like **** by its maker.
 
Warband was no different, and that game had a long successful life.
yeah but warband is an old game that was just an upgraded version of the first M&B developed by two people and it still manages to be more feature complete than bannerlord made by a team of around 100 employees.
 
yeah but warband is an old game that was just an upgraded version of the first M&B developed by two people and it still manages to be more feature complete than bannerlord made by a team of around 100 employees.
+1
Warband was no different, and that game had a long successful life.
The "long successful" part wasn't because of TW directly, but because of modders, and actually thinking about it, personal relationships were much more elaborated on WB than on BL. So, on that instance they took a very different, and much less content-rich, path.
 
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