Urbanski
Regular
I'm totally new to the Mount & Blade series. I have to say I'm really enjoying the game, it's got huge potential. I've only gone through one play through as I wanted to get to experience mid-end game...so far the positives massively outweigh the negatives.
I feel I've seen enough to form a decent opinion of the game. Sorry for the wall of text.
The things I like.
Battles - this really is the juicy bit, the thing that keeps me playing. Huge 500 v 500 battles are so much fun, when playing Total War I always wanted to take part in those huge battles, now I can...epic!!
The World & Lore - each faction does feel unique and has their own strengths and weaknesses, it still needs quite a bit of balancing (Sturgia) but I think it's a really good start.
The Economy - trading, workshops, caravans - I sunk a lot of time into this bit early on and made many mistakes but generally I think these elements work well and I love that it's dynamic and ever changing due to events locally and globally.
Gear - weapons & armor - again sunk a lot of time trying out different weapons and armor. On the whole the armor looks great and the weapons feel about right, would like to see a lot more options of both. More two hand axes anyone?
Encyclopedia - this has been a real game saver for me and it's a really smart addition to the game. I do feel that it is replacing a few things that should be visible through the UI however, like who is at war with whom etc...
Companions - I love having them and they are very useful especially if you get them to create their own party and follow you. However companions do not seem to level up at all, maybe a +1 now and again in riding or something. They also have bizarre attribute distribution. I have a companion with the medicine skill and 0 intelligence? Seems all companion attribute points are in the combat skills?
Things I dislike.
Politics - are bizarre, obscure, illogical and opaque (much like RL politics, lol). I have minus relation with my faction leader...no idea why, I've won so many battles for him, conquered so much territory. This part needs a complete rework as it's counterintuitive, the relations part in particular. Very few ways to earn positive relations, seems like everything you do causes huge negative relations. I get no positive relations for saving someones life by helping them win a battle they were losing. I get no positive relations for winning battles, killing bandits / looters, taking cities and castles yet I get -10 for simply taking part in a vote that will now cost 500+ influence to get relations back to 0. This relations issue is a major problem for me. Also what about alliances, truces, ceasefires, vassel states, trade agreements etc...
Skills / Perks - I know many of the perks are not functioning which is fine and understandable. Skills however (physical skills) don't seem to make much difference. I feel just as slow and ponderous at lvl 100 one hand as I did at lvl 5. I'm not really feeling the benefits of the skills, combat especially. Also some skills are very hard to upgrade...athletics is one example, I run everywhere, still not lvl 50.
Hideouts - not sure about these at all. Why can I only bring 7 people including me...against 50+. Why can I not pick who I bring? I think these need a rework.
Smithing - I tried to get into this but it's pretty tedious, random & time consuming. I don't get the point...I can make a weapon that's probably worse than the tonne of weapons I get from loot? Why? Also the smithing stamina mechanic is poorly done. IMO smithing needs a total rework and needs to include armour / horse armour to make it even remotely worth the time sink. I actually think smithing should be something that can be applied to your troops, +1 weapon damage, +1 armour etc...so what if I have a nice sword, I'd rather my 500 men had better swords. For now I'm ignoring this feature as it seems tacked on and entirely optional.
AI & faction leader AI - seems random, arbitrary and illogical. Vlandia declared war on everyone (and I do mean everyone) at the beginning of the game and got wiped...what a surprise! I signed up to the Khuzait who are sort of winning but I'm not sure how. They seem to focus on taking random castles deep in enemy territory that are immediately taken back. There seems to be no strategy at all. Leaving a lone enemy city deep in the heart of our territory? Close to wiping an enemy then making peace, then declaring war again a few days later? I get there is an element of 'personality' to this which is fine but it feels far too random. I've decided to create my own war strategy which is often undermined by the things mentioned above.
Fiefs - I like that these are fairly hands off, you queue up your building list, garrison some men and let it run. I've only got 3 castles and no cities, quite how you acquire cities, castles etc is again a puzzle and goes back to politics.
Sieges - I can't even begin to understand how difficult this must be to program. It does feel like I'm not even remotely in control of anything during a siege, probably close to how it really was. It's not that much fun compared to the open world battles, not sure how it could be improved. It reminds me of my commute to work, lots of people trying to get through a small doorway, only with more swords and arrows involved
There are lots of other little things, important changes in the game like declaring war or peace isn't flagged very clearly. I only noticed when all of our enemy cities stopped being red, then I checked the encyclopedia. When anyone declares war especially on your faction that should be highlighted. Same with your parties and milestone events like reaching clan tier 3 / 4 which I didn't realise I'd achieved.
On a side note I've rolled back to 1.10 as the new beta update created a lot of issues for me, lighting, graphics, economy, and everyone is really fat...lol
Overall though I do love the game and I'm really invested in it....very happy I bought M&B Bannerlord
I feel I've seen enough to form a decent opinion of the game. Sorry for the wall of text.
The things I like.
Battles - this really is the juicy bit, the thing that keeps me playing. Huge 500 v 500 battles are so much fun, when playing Total War I always wanted to take part in those huge battles, now I can...epic!!
The World & Lore - each faction does feel unique and has their own strengths and weaknesses, it still needs quite a bit of balancing (Sturgia) but I think it's a really good start.
The Economy - trading, workshops, caravans - I sunk a lot of time into this bit early on and made many mistakes but generally I think these elements work well and I love that it's dynamic and ever changing due to events locally and globally.
Gear - weapons & armor - again sunk a lot of time trying out different weapons and armor. On the whole the armor looks great and the weapons feel about right, would like to see a lot more options of both. More two hand axes anyone?
Encyclopedia - this has been a real game saver for me and it's a really smart addition to the game. I do feel that it is replacing a few things that should be visible through the UI however, like who is at war with whom etc...
Companions - I love having them and they are very useful especially if you get them to create their own party and follow you. However companions do not seem to level up at all, maybe a +1 now and again in riding or something. They also have bizarre attribute distribution. I have a companion with the medicine skill and 0 intelligence? Seems all companion attribute points are in the combat skills?
Things I dislike.
Politics - are bizarre, obscure, illogical and opaque (much like RL politics, lol). I have minus relation with my faction leader...no idea why, I've won so many battles for him, conquered so much territory. This part needs a complete rework as it's counterintuitive, the relations part in particular. Very few ways to earn positive relations, seems like everything you do causes huge negative relations. I get no positive relations for saving someones life by helping them win a battle they were losing. I get no positive relations for winning battles, killing bandits / looters, taking cities and castles yet I get -10 for simply taking part in a vote that will now cost 500+ influence to get relations back to 0. This relations issue is a major problem for me. Also what about alliances, truces, ceasefires, vassel states, trade agreements etc...
Skills / Perks - I know many of the perks are not functioning which is fine and understandable. Skills however (physical skills) don't seem to make much difference. I feel just as slow and ponderous at lvl 100 one hand as I did at lvl 5. I'm not really feeling the benefits of the skills, combat especially. Also some skills are very hard to upgrade...athletics is one example, I run everywhere, still not lvl 50.
Hideouts - not sure about these at all. Why can I only bring 7 people including me...against 50+. Why can I not pick who I bring? I think these need a rework.
Smithing - I tried to get into this but it's pretty tedious, random & time consuming. I don't get the point...I can make a weapon that's probably worse than the tonne of weapons I get from loot? Why? Also the smithing stamina mechanic is poorly done. IMO smithing needs a total rework and needs to include armour / horse armour to make it even remotely worth the time sink. I actually think smithing should be something that can be applied to your troops, +1 weapon damage, +1 armour etc...so what if I have a nice sword, I'd rather my 500 men had better swords. For now I'm ignoring this feature as it seems tacked on and entirely optional.
AI & faction leader AI - seems random, arbitrary and illogical. Vlandia declared war on everyone (and I do mean everyone) at the beginning of the game and got wiped...what a surprise! I signed up to the Khuzait who are sort of winning but I'm not sure how. They seem to focus on taking random castles deep in enemy territory that are immediately taken back. There seems to be no strategy at all. Leaving a lone enemy city deep in the heart of our territory? Close to wiping an enemy then making peace, then declaring war again a few days later? I get there is an element of 'personality' to this which is fine but it feels far too random. I've decided to create my own war strategy which is often undermined by the things mentioned above.
Fiefs - I like that these are fairly hands off, you queue up your building list, garrison some men and let it run. I've only got 3 castles and no cities, quite how you acquire cities, castles etc is again a puzzle and goes back to politics.
Sieges - I can't even begin to understand how difficult this must be to program. It does feel like I'm not even remotely in control of anything during a siege, probably close to how it really was. It's not that much fun compared to the open world battles, not sure how it could be improved. It reminds me of my commute to work, lots of people trying to get through a small doorway, only with more swords and arrows involved
There are lots of other little things, important changes in the game like declaring war or peace isn't flagged very clearly. I only noticed when all of our enemy cities stopped being red, then I checked the encyclopedia. When anyone declares war especially on your faction that should be highlighted. Same with your parties and milestone events like reaching clan tier 3 / 4 which I didn't realise I'd achieved.
On a side note I've rolled back to 1.10 as the new beta update created a lot of issues for me, lighting, graphics, economy, and everyone is really fat...lol
Overall though I do love the game and I'm really invested in it....very happy I bought M&B Bannerlord
