We started together on an epic journey together more than a decade ago. The title: Mount and Blade said that we were free, mobile; that there were risks involved, glory awaited etc. Warband furthered it, and then we had mods that altered it. The spirit was almost never lost in any of these applications. Freedom.
Freedom means individuality. It is you and ability to be and express yourself. How you project it to a video game varies by nature, the deeds, karma, fame(remember the terms?), or "traits" you might call today. To some extent, we lost this spirit in Bannerlord. I understand why... The dynasty mentality has to be imposed upon the player. But why immediately, to the level of bone white, and to the end?
Our literal mount and blade does not mean anything anymore beside the tournaments which we play at the beginning of a new game. A smart commander will duck and hide on the battlefield with the introduction of death, because there is nothing to be gained from the player being there. We do not matter but our clan.
We do not have relationships beside clan memberships, no friends beside clan diplomacy, our traits do not matter, we do not have a story not from the past and not for the future to write but the clan's holdings. What you first envisioned as destroyable parapets, should not have the cost of player's adventure.
Nobility in M&B was a journey, a story of us, towards this clan mentality. After we had it, the game was quite static, the mercenary life meant nothing because then you could be a vassal. People would interact with you with messages, invite you and what not. I do not aim to compare to Total War and Crusader Kings, but Bannerlord is to some extent, digging under what made M&B unique and strong. You, TW still have the mindset but you are missing one point, you chose impoverished noble for everyone and left the story only to stats... The lack of this individuality and process is causing a lot of frustration, which I often observe on steam forums.
People spawn on a training field as no one, and in one week they are kings... And guess what? You give them a mission which make all kingdoms attack them simultaneously.
What do they fight for? What do they believe in? Who are they? Who are friends to the player? What would they do for each other? These are all lost to the concerns of mechanics of smithing, more perks to support larger parties, etc, like tears in the rain.
To sum up, now I have 1k hours in Bannerlord. I enjoy the game a lot. But I sorely miss being me in the game and not being a clan. If possible, bring that period, our individuality and relationships back and keep them throughout the game; how you would do it, I can not surely say, and maybe not to the extent of learning poems but still, I believe you could revisit those greek tragedia lessons...
This is my suggestion. Thanks for reading.
Freedom means individuality. It is you and ability to be and express yourself. How you project it to a video game varies by nature, the deeds, karma, fame(remember the terms?), or "traits" you might call today. To some extent, we lost this spirit in Bannerlord. I understand why... The dynasty mentality has to be imposed upon the player. But why immediately, to the level of bone white, and to the end?
Our literal mount and blade does not mean anything anymore beside the tournaments which we play at the beginning of a new game. A smart commander will duck and hide on the battlefield with the introduction of death, because there is nothing to be gained from the player being there. We do not matter but our clan.
We do not have relationships beside clan memberships, no friends beside clan diplomacy, our traits do not matter, we do not have a story not from the past and not for the future to write but the clan's holdings. What you first envisioned as destroyable parapets, should not have the cost of player's adventure.
Nobility in M&B was a journey, a story of us, towards this clan mentality. After we had it, the game was quite static, the mercenary life meant nothing because then you could be a vassal. People would interact with you with messages, invite you and what not. I do not aim to compare to Total War and Crusader Kings, but Bannerlord is to some extent, digging under what made M&B unique and strong. You, TW still have the mindset but you are missing one point, you chose impoverished noble for everyone and left the story only to stats... The lack of this individuality and process is causing a lot of frustration, which I often observe on steam forums.
People spawn on a training field as no one, and in one week they are kings... And guess what? You give them a mission which make all kingdoms attack them simultaneously.
What do they fight for? What do they believe in? Who are they? Who are friends to the player? What would they do for each other? These are all lost to the concerns of mechanics of smithing, more perks to support larger parties, etc, like tears in the rain.
To sum up, now I have 1k hours in Bannerlord. I enjoy the game a lot. But I sorely miss being me in the game and not being a clan. If possible, bring that period, our individuality and relationships back and keep them throughout the game; how you would do it, I can not surely say, and maybe not to the extent of learning poems but still, I believe you could revisit those greek tragedia lessons...
This is my suggestion. Thanks for reading.
