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AngryPanCake

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Hello everyone,
I just happened to stumble on some Youtube videos of this game and was quite pleased with what I saw. It reminded me of the Total War games (hopefully I'm not offending anyone by bringing up competition!). The battles are a bit different though, how different? Not sure yet, I haven't shelled out the $50 yet.

For me, this is an expensive game. The only other one I spent almost this much was Naval Action as I am a sucker for the Age of Sail. So before I splurge on a "Total War" like game (which I actually love, just did not spend as much), I was wondering how worth it this game is?

I did watch several videos that talk about how great this game is and some them show the actual gameplay in a campaign form, watched several of what I assumed were custom battles and I liked what I saw. However, I also watched some videos that pointed out some significant imbalances and mechanics exploits, such as some interactions with characters on the strategic map that you can offer peace to (right after declaring war) and make them give you a fortune in gold even though they have 100 men and the player only one man! I am not sure whether this was a cheat or what, but the Youtube guy said it was the vanilla version.

The thing that is attracting me to this game is the ability to use player made mods, in my experience with the TW series make the vanilla game much much enjoyable. How easy is it to use mods or make your own minor tweaks/changes?

Thank you,
APC
 
The game is still in Early Access, mod tools are still under development and it has flaws such as aforementioned imbalances. So if you are worried about it, wait until the game is fully released, but otherwise the game is a lot of fun.
 
Unless you're desperate to try out something new, I say wait until the game is "fully released" before buying it. You'll likely end up getting frustrated with Bannerlord in its current state. Once it's out of 'early access' it'll be far more fun, and there will hopefully be much more stable mods.
 
Honestly? No. Especially not at full price. The game has to be carried, heavily, by mods and these mods are constantly breaking because the "amazing content" patches keep breaking things.

If you are going to get it...get it on a steep sale. Check Greenmangaming, Humblebundle, Fanatical (< official sellers), or more grey sites like Eneba. Do not pay full price for this game.
 
Wait for its release (Spring 2022), read some reviews, watch some videos, wait for the patch that fixes critical release bugs, then wait for a Steam sale. :smile: That's my plan anyway, and I'm following it for years.
Theoretically it should be better than Total War games, as you take part in the action, but the current state of the game is lacking in many aspects and it won't improve by much since the developers decided to target casual, action-oriented players. Mods will fix this eventually, but then you'll have to wait some more for them to be developed. Hopefully most of us will still be alive by then!
 
Hello everyone,
I just happened to stumble on some Youtube videos of this game and was quite pleased with what I saw. It reminded me of the Total War games (hopefully I'm not offending anyone by bringing up competition!). The battles are a bit different though, how different? Not sure yet, I haven't shelled out the $50 yet.

For me, this is an expensive game. The only other one I spent almost this much was Naval Action as I am a sucker for the Age of Sail. So before I splurge on a "Total War" like game (which I actually love, just did not spend as much), I was wondering how worth it this game is?

I did watch several videos that talk about how great this game is and some them show the actual gameplay in a campaign form, watched several of what I assumed were custom battles and I liked what I saw. However, I also watched some videos that pointed out some significant imbalances and mechanics exploits, such as some interactions with characters on the strategic map that you can offer peace to (right after declaring war) and make them give you a fortune in gold even though they have 100 men and the player only one man! I am not sure whether this was a cheat or what, but the Youtube guy said it was the vanilla version.

The thing that is attracting me to this game is the ability to use player made mods, in my experience with the TW series make the vanilla game much much enjoyable. How easy is it to use mods or make your own minor tweaks/changes?

Thank you,
APC
Hi there. If you (like me) are a sucker for strategy games, or strategically-minded RPGs, you're after the wrong game in this case. Right now, this is basically a barebones action game with some RPG elements. Most of a typical playthrough revolves around exploits, the AI is broken and the siege battles are borderline non-functional and have been for a year now.
Substantial mods are still a long way off since Taleworlds have released some modding tools and most stuff still can't be really touched or modified. At this point we have no assurance full mods like Prophesy of Pendor and the like will ever be doable.
TL;DR: Don't buy. You probably won't like it. (I say this as someone who's more into wargaming and typical RPGs.)
 
I would recommend that you at least wait until the full game is released and then check back on the state of the game. Many of the mods will be broken on each new update and a fair number of mods have ceased updating. The vanilla game is not worth $50 in its current state and there are many core issues that need to be resolved.

I would, however, recommend picking up their previous game Mount and Blade: Warband. It's only $20 and you can get it for much cheaper on sale. It has many mods and even the vanilla version is very playable. While the visuals aren't very modern, the game has a lot of charm to it. The infantry combat is much better and soldiers and cavalry have proper collision in battle.
 
It's currently suffering a handful of major bugs (siege towers, armor, lance/spear AI and troop AI in general) and a raft of balance problems (troop trees, weapon types, politics, autoresolve, caravans, raiding, smithing, etc all highly imbalanced).

To someone who enjoys Total War, the bugs and imbalances make Bannerlord hard to enjoy right now as a tactical game, as sieges are a mess, ranged units are death machines and infantry/cavalry sucks, and the average battle ends in less than 3 minutes, and that takes out all the tactical replayability.

You can have some fun with Bannerlord as an RPG lite/slasher/grand Strat lite hybrid though.
 
However, I also watched some videos that pointed out some significant imbalances and mechanics exploits, such as some interactions with characters on the strategic map that you can offer peace to (right after declaring war) and make them give you a fortune in gold even though they have 100 men and the player only one man! I am not sure whether this was a cheat or what, but the Youtube guy said it was the vanilla version.
It was a bug and fixed it.
 
Get Warband when it's on sale, which is often and try it out. If you like it, consider getting Bannerlord when it's released, OR looking more closely into the difference between the current EA version and warband and see if you want to play it in EA. If you don't enjoy warband very much, don't bother with Bannerlord.
 
Thank you so much for the feedback.

I was wondering about the mods, as I like games that are mod-friendly. The often make the game more enjoyable and balanced than the vanilla version. However, if the mods break every time there is a new patch, then you are right, playing will be extremely frustrating.
I will definitely look into Warband and try it out.

Thank you,
APC
 
+1 to Warband. Install diplomacy mod on vanilla and give it a go. If you'll like the genre, you'll eventually buy bannerlord anyway after you try out a few more Warband mods. If you don't, 50$'s saved.
 
everyone,
I just happened to stumble on some Youtube videos of this game and was quite pleased with what I saw. It reminded me of the Total War games (hopefully I'm

Not sure if you’ve played in this series before but these battles are actually fought in real time with real-time action. Meaning in total war they are merely dice rolls for squad on squad where as in here every swing is measured against another’s hit box - so really it’s totally different. This current game lacks much but IMO it’s a better battle experience than total war.

Also be careful when you say TW here as in may mean Total War or Tale worlds
 
... This current game lacks much but IMO it’s a better battle experience than total war.

Also be careful when you say TW here as in may mean Total War or Tale worlds

Thanks for the clarification as I realized TW may mean different things here!
Also, the more youtube vids I'm watching the more interesting the battle aspect of this game is.
 
@AngryPanCake if you don't care about graphics go for warband with mods for now. I wouldn't play it native, find the diplomacy mod if you want to play similar to native or a complete conversion mod like the one suggested by TimlZ.

If you care about graphics then I would say go ahead and play Bannerlord with the understanding that after a playthrough you might want to put it down for a bit and wait for a few patches for it to reach full potential and good conversion mods to be released.

Bannerlord is definitely fun enough in its current state for someone brand new to the series to enjoy for long enough to justify the price.
 
I would suggest buying it, 50$ is totally worth what bannerlord would give in return. The game is constantly patched and cared for and the modding community is second to none.
It is an Early access game so you might want to temper your expectations. Still, it has given me thus far countless hours of fun and a unique experience that keeps me coming back for more like no other game has before.
Comparing from when it first released, the dev team has done a stellar job in fixing bugs. They were pressured to release it as a buggy mess by the community that waited for so many years and have warned us that it is not ready yet but we still asked for it.
If you are a perfectionist, it might sting a little here and there.
Some mods get regularly updated but it is not consistent and you might want to wait for it to stabilize before heavily modding it like warband.
It is mainly centered on player skill in battle commands and real time fighting and vague grand strategy on the campaign map + kingdom management and a sprinkle of Rpg.
It has tremendous potential and it might become more expensive later when it is polished, so keep that in mind.
 
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