Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

vota DC

Augur
Joined
Aug 23, 2016
Messages
2,258
Troop trees seems placeholder: spearman and swordsman with the same one handed and polearm skill, aserai lack foot infantry (camel, 2 cavalry, foot archer), empire lack heavy or light infantry (have only one foot infantry), vlandian lack bowmen (they had it in older videos and a faction with zero bowmen and only crossbowmen is strange), also what the hell with sturgia that reach mounted huskarl upgrading skirmisher and footman?

Funfact: Bannerlord is transliteration of Turkish title Sancakbeyi, given to landed cavalrymen that governed a fief(a banner) of Seljuks and successor states. Rough equivalent of European knights except peasantry in their fiefs weren't considered property like the serfs were.

The game is also on government trust much like fiefs were and likely going to be a dead end similarly. Long story short it is not coming out.

The term is also translated in many languages, in english should be sanjak, in italian is sangiacco...so it is funny term: a saint with a jacket. No idea why they wanted to westernize it.
 

FreeKaner

Prophet of the Dumpsterfire
Joined
Mar 28, 2015
Messages
6,908
Location
Devlet-i ʿAlīye-i ʿErdogānīye
The term is also translated in many languages, in english should be sanjak, in italian is sangiacco...so it is funny term: a saint with a jacket. No idea why they wanted to westernize it.

I assume to not alienate their playerbase which is mainly Western alt-right and other assorted "history fans" that are not very fond of history and languages of Islamic countries, so much so that any display of any sort of Islamic history except as fodder tends to curiously enrage them.
 
Last edited:

Got bored and left

Guest
The term is also translated in many languages, in english should be sanjak, in italian is sangiacco...so it is funny term: a saint with a jacket. No idea why they wanted to westernize it.

I assume to not alienate their playerbase which is mainly Western alt-right and other assorted "history fans" that are not very fond of languages and terms of Islamic countries, so much so that any display of any sort of Islamic history except as fodder tends to enrage them curiously.

Non-alienation is the right idea, but I wouldn't go so far with that reasoning: sanjak is a widely unknown term in the Western world and, even for those who are familiar, connotes very strongly with the Ottoman Empire and is specific to it. Since the game is neither set there, nor has much to do with the Ottomans, the devs chose a much more neutral - and understandable - term for the international audience. Domestication is a device as old as translation itself, nothing to get upset about. Now, I'm sure that there would be some morons upset about muh Muslims, but I wouldn't overestimate the impact of that - most people would just be confused as fuck. Imagine an alternate universe where M&B was made by Greeks and they named the sequel Mount & Blade II: Strategos (actually, that'd make a whole lot more sense, given the game's setting).

Having said that, I'd LOVE to play a game set in Ottoman Turkey. Someone get on that shit.
 

FreeKaner

Prophet of the Dumpsterfire
Joined
Mar 28, 2015
Messages
6,908
Location
Devlet-i ʿAlīye-i ʿErdogānīye
Non-alienation is the right idea, but I wouldn't go so far with that reasoning: sanjak is a widely unknown term in the Western world and, even for those who are familiar, connotes very strongly with the Ottoman Empire and is specific to it. Since the game is neither set there, nor has much to do with the Ottomans, the devs chose a much more neutral - and understandable - term for the international audience. Domestication is a device as old as translation itself, nothing to get upset about. Now, I'm sure that there would be some morons upset about muh Muslims, but I wouldn't overestimate the impact of that - most people would just be confused as fuck. Imagine an alternate universe where M&B was made by Greeks and they named the sequel Mount & Blade II: Strategos (actually, that'd make a whole lot more sense, given the game's setting).

Having said that, I'd LOVE to play a game set in Ottoman Turkey. Someone get on that shit.

I wasn't entirely serious I just love taking jabs at a particular subsection of historical game fanbase that cannot seem to look past their modern political ideologies.

That said yes, there are many historical settings that are not properly exploited while people make the same generic-medieaval not-England incorporating bunch of stuff that are actually not medieaval over and over again. Classical Era Ottoman Empire with its struggles both internal and external, as well as on land and sea could make a great setting, we also have very detailed and vivid first-hand descriptions of it in Turkish Letters of Busbecq and bunch of other contemporary travel memoirs, drawings and what not.

I am also personally upset there are no proper games set in Italian Wars era. That's just criminal since it's also European and was a critical part of European history that can made into a game setting very easily with its many factions, politics and landscape, also featuring Spain and France as well. I mean I understand the developers and players of these games are generally Western thus do not care much for rest of the world except maybe for Japan and Ancient Egypt as they lack familarity with them but seriously how is it possible that even in Europe most is ignored?
 

deuxhero

Arcane
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
11,324
Location
Flowery Land
Mount and blade 1 you had strenght+power strike for the damage and agility+proficiency for attack speed. Now you can't have a slow ogre that hits hard or a weak master swordsman that hit often but softly.

You really couldn't. Attack speed rose with proficiency, which rose automatically with use and most player character XP was gained by kills (so the only real way to get high power strike with low proficiency was to use one weapon to level then swap to a different weapon type). As Mount and Blade's damage formula was based on attack speed, with a low proficiency you weren't going to be doing notable damage even at 10 power strike because you'd be doing 0 damage and power strike's extra damage is a percentage of the damage you'd do (unless you landed an attack from or against horseback, but then it's the horse's speed doing all the damage).
 

Ezeekiel

Liturgist
Joined
Dec 19, 2016
Messages
1,783
Non-alienation is the right idea, but I wouldn't go so far with that reasoning: sanjak is a widely unknown term in the Western world and, even for those who are familiar, connotes very strongly with the Ottoman Empire and is specific to it. Since the game is neither set there, nor has much to do with the Ottomans, the devs chose a much more neutral - and understandable - term for the international audience. Domestication is a device as old as translation itself, nothing to get upset about. Now, I'm sure that there would be some morons upset about muh Muslims, but I wouldn't overestimate the impact of that - most people would just be confused as fuck. Imagine an alternate universe where M&B was made by Greeks and they named the sequel Mount & Blade II: Strategos (actually, that'd make a whole lot more sense, given the game's setting).

Having said that, I'd LOVE to play a game set in Ottoman Turkey. Someone get on that shit.

I wasn't entirely serious I just love taking jabs at a particular subsection of historical game fanbase that cannot seem to look past their modern political ideologies.
Was there ever some big outcry about foreign terms from the alt-right?
I've run across random gamers complaining about lack of localization of some terms, but nothing politically-motivated. Just the usual steam forums entitlement bs.

Plus a lot of western HEMA types are hard-left commie apologist/SJW nerds who fit the bill of "a particular subsection of historical game fanbase that cannot seem to look past their modern political ideologies" just as well. The historical media fanbase is not lacking it's fools, that's for sure.

Anyway, this being the subtitle of a game that lets you play several different factions rather than a Turkey-specific game (or one where you at least just play Turkish types) I think it's quite reasonable to have it be an English title instead.
They could just use original terms for in-game units of relevant factions.
That said yes, there are many historical settings that are not properly exploited while people make the same generic-medieaval not-England incorporating bunch of stuff that are actually not medieaval over and over again. Classical Era Ottoman Empire with its struggles both internal and external, as well as on land and sea could make a great setting, we also have very detailed and vivid first-hand descriptions of it in Turkish Letters of Busbecq and bunch of other contemporary travel memoirs, drawings and what not.

I am also personally upset there are no proper games set in Italian Wars era. That's just criminal since it's also European and was a critical part of European history that can made into a game setting very easily with its many factions, politics and landscape, also featuring Spain and France as well. I mean I understand the developers and players of these games are generally Western thus do not care much for rest of the world except maybe for Japan and Ancient Egypt as they lack familarity with them but seriously how is it possible that even in Europe most is ignored?
Maybe developers /creators of media in general are the real problem? I don't know many game devs with solid understanding of history or any real interest in it.
 

vonAchdorf

Arcane
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
13,465
The term is also translated in many languages, in english should be sanjak, in italian is sangiacco...so it is funny term: a saint with a jacket. No idea why they wanted to westernize it.

I assume to not alienate their playerbase which is mainly Western alt-right and other assorted "history fans" that are not very fond of history and languages of Islamic countries, so much so that any display of any sort of Islamic history except as fodder tends to curiously enrage them.

M&B Sancakbeyi doesn't really roll off the tongue like Bannerlord for an English speaking audience and Bannerlord sounds cool. Vavra gave his historically authentic game an English title, not a Czech one.
 

Got bored and left

Guest
The term is also translated in many languages, in english should be sanjak, in italian is sangiacco...so it is funny term: a saint with a jacket. No idea why they wanted to westernize it.

I assume to not alienate their playerbase which is mainly Western alt-right and other assorted "history fans" that are not very fond of history and languages of Islamic countries, so much so that any display of any sort of Islamic history except as fodder tends to curiously enrage them.

Vavra gave his historically authentic game an English title, not a Czech one.

That was a mistake. Království Tvé: Spása (plz don't kill me, Bohemian friends) would sell 50 bajillion copies, and you know it!
 

Spectacle

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 25, 2006
Messages
8,363
Funfact: Bannerlord is transliteration of Turkish title Sancakbeyi, given to landed cavalrymen that governed a fief(a banner) of Seljuks and successor states. Rough equivalent of European knights except peasantry in their fiefs weren't considered property like the serfs were.

The game is also on government trust much like fiefs were and likely going to be a dead end similarly. Long story short it is not coming out.
They could release the Gamescom build right now to Early Access on Steam and sell enough to finance another 5 years of development.
It's coming out sooner or later. Probably later.
 

Beowulf

Arcane
Joined
Mar 2, 2015
Messages
1,963
Government funded projects tend to last as long as the funds are flowing in, so they have a tendency to not finish on the originally planned date. Especially east of the river Oder. And we have here a country on the other side of the Bosporus ;)
 

Quillon

Arcane
Joined
Dec 15, 2016
Messages
5,214
Government funded projects tend to last as long as the funds are flowing in, so they have a tendency to not finish on the originally planned date. Especially east of the river Oder. And we have here a country on the other side of the Bosporus ;)

Erdo funds vidya gamez?
 

Beowulf

Arcane
Joined
Mar 2, 2015
Messages
1,963
I mean - I believe it will eventually come out, and will be quite good for what it is.
 

FreeKaner

Prophet of the Dumpsterfire
Joined
Mar 28, 2015
Messages
6,908
Location
Devlet-i ʿAlīye-i ʿErdogānīye
Government funded projects tend to last as long as the funds are flowing in, so they have a tendency to not finish on the originally planned date. Especially east of the river Oder. And we have here a country on the other side of the Bosporus ;)

Excuse you we are on both sides of Bosphorus still.

Erdo funds vidya gamez?

I forgot its name now but there is a government institute for video game development that indeed funds video games, one of Talesworld people is even chairman there. However I think majority of their budget is still from game sales and the institute doesn't interfere with development at all.
 

whydoibother

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 2, 2018
Messages
15,477
Location
bulgaristan
Codex Year of the Donut
The turkish government is only funding Taleworlds because they act like an internship program for the university that houses them.
They aren't funding Bannerlord, they are funding university students getting programming experience on Bannerlord. Kind of different.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,228
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.pcgamer.com/getting-ric...-2-bannerlords-sandbox-singleplayer-campaign/

Getting rich quick in Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord's sandbox singleplayer campaign
Merc life in Calradia.

5XDbNyZ95T4hbPMMDJPGGA-320-80.jpg


“How do you have so much money?” asks the Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord booth manager at Gamescom as I end my half-hour session. People trafficking, my good man. During my short time with the game I made thousands fighting bandits, taking prisoners, and selling the prisoners on to a local town. A guy in town paid me for neutralising the bandit threat as well, and I steal some extra armour for myself after battle. I'm making money all the way down this chain.

It's refreshing to be dropped into Mount and Blade 2's medieval sandbox with no objectives whatsoever. There are no arch demons to thwart, or evil kings to overthrow, I'm free to quest for riches and better pants instead.

Like the first game you can hire warriors and fight alongside them in third-person battles, and as a mercenary you're free to take jobs with any town vendors you fancy. You can enter towns and wander up to a quest-giver, or pick them from a menu screen to save time. As you complete jobs they will like you more, and you can hire more advanced soldiers. Soldiers level up after battles and evolve into better troops over time.

The sequel looks a lot better than the first game, but it's still endearingly low-fi compared to RPGs with a similar tone like Kingdom Come Deliverance. Instead of graphical fidelity, Mount and Blade 2 promises freedom. You move between towns on a map of Calradia that feels like a JRPG world map. Roaming warbands are represented as lone soldiers or horseriders. Traders zip between towns like little board game pieces. If you stand still the sandbox busily swarms around you.

There isn't time to dig into Mount and Blade 2's most ambitious features. Eventually you can go to war with entire armies, and lay siege to castles in massive battles. In the beginning you're just another citizen. I could have entered some tournaments to win money and favour in duels, or I could have allied with the criminal elements in town. Instead, I played as a roaming enforcer helping the local militia to fight off bandits.

Combat will be very familiar to Mount and Blade: Warband players. From horseback I hold the mouse button to wind up a strike and then release at just the right point to cleave the enemy. The horse's momentum factors into the power of the blow, which guarantees a kill if I chop roughly in the head area.

Fighting requires careful cursor control because blows don't track or lock on to targets. You can move your body angle and feet as you swing to make sure you connect. As the enemy swings at you, you adjust your body angle to make sure the blow misses or lands on your shield. The flailing and disconnected leg movements make the fights look and feel desperate, but there's skill to it, and the wide array of weapons, shields, and armour create meaningful variation between troops. Your units fight in gaggles that you can direct, to an extent, with commands. Fights are nonetheless quite haphazard, as you might expect from a rabble of bandits and hastily assembled militia fighters.

There are a lot of amusing little moments. When you win a battle by routing or killing the enemy, everyone in your rag-tag army stops and cheers as though they've just won a football match. I went into town to meet up with some criminal types in a back alley. I found both staring at a brick wall. When I questioned them they gave me the exact same paragraph of dialogue about being loyal to their gang leader. Mount and Blade has always been a bit wonky, but that's part of its appeal, and the sequel shows a strong commitment to player-driven stories in a bustling sandbox world.

Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord's release date is yet to be announced.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
https://steamcommunity.com/games/261550/announcements/detail/1690427623820287612

0057837d1ac4b7dd1234ec328a1c114c2b250244.jpg


Greetings warriors of Calradia!

Last week, we had the pleasure of attending Gamescom to present a hands-on demo of the singleplayer sandbox campaign of Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord for the first time. Attending this kind of event is a lot of work, but at the same time, we had a lot of fun! More than 500 journalists, YouTubers, streamers, and even fellow developers from other companies came to our booth in the 3 days that we were present at the event. It was great having the opportunity to show what we are doing and it was humbling to see everyone so excited about the game!

blog_post_55_taleworldswebsite_02.gif

This time-lapse covers just a couple of hours inside the booth, where all the magic happened. Looks busy right!?

Now that the dust has settled a little bit, we want to summarise some of the coverage that has already been published. Even if you have already watched a video or read an article about our demo, you may have missed some details or content. As we explained a couple of weeks ago, the demo we showed was really vast: three characters, each in their own region and with plenty of things to do.

blog_post_55_taleworldswebsite_03.png


The demo itself consisted of gameplay from the early-game phase of the campaign. Guests were able to explore the world and meet its inhabitants, take quests from notables, trade, enter tournaments, take part in gang fights, and meet their enemies on the field of battle. It was quite a lot of content to squeeze into 30 minutes of gameplay, which is something we will definitely keep in mind for any future events.

https://youtu.be/NTVKMcWu_CE
In this video we can see James Duggan of IGN showing off his Mount & Blade combat skills in the arena and ruthlessly dispatching bandit parties on the world map.


https://youtu.be/8ByrC0GoQrE
RPS Video Person, Matthew Castle, and his colleague Brendan Caldwell, took the time to put out this great video straight from their hotel room in Cologne. This was Matthew’s first experience with a Mount & Blade game, but we think he played well nevertheless!


https://youtu.be/wBp1EtBtG8g
For those of you that were unable to tune into the Rocket Beans live stream during the event, make sure to check out this video to see some gameplay footage along with an interview with our Project Lead, Armagan Yavuz, and Level Designer, Paul Kaloff.


https://youtu.be/TNhs-XKKD-s
We really enjoyed this video from YouTuber Steejo. He is clearly familiar with Mount & Blade’s unique combat system and he made great use of the short amount of time he had by exploring the world and taking in part in as many different activities he could.


Finally, all of your comments and feedback during and after the event have been warmly received. We are still working our way through all of your questions and have decided to dedicate next week’s blog to answer as many of these as we can. Until then, make sure to keep an eye out for additional gameplay footage and articles coming out from our guests at Gamescom.

blog_post_55_taleworldswebsite_04.png

But you won't answer THE question.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,228
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/08/31/mount-and-blade-2-bannerlord-campaign-preview-hands-on/

Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord's single player campaign is full of thugs and bog men

70


Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is the medieval war ‘em up that often pops up to say: “Hello, I still look good.” We have seen its sieges, its horse archers, and even played some of its multiplayer sword-clashing. But at this year’s Gamescom, I played some of the single player campaign. And oh yes, that’s the good stuff. I played as Valtis, an athletic sword-swinging dude from the Southern Empire who can also throw javelins. I like javelins. I like the sound they make as they whoosh by and impale a man.

Like its predecessor, this is set in a sideways world of alt history and alt nations. In the year of our alt Lord, 1084, the land of Calradia is split into cultural factions all based on historical peoples. The Khuzait live in Mongol-like clans, the Battanians resemble the Celts, and so on (the game will have a built-in encyclopedia to help you trough all this, and like previous games it’ll include key characters and their relationships).

But the first thing I see as I am plonked onto the world map is the detail in this landscape of valleys, seasides and mountains. A river spreads out into a large lake, with palm trees at the side. Dry, mountainous lands rise in the south. The little villages, castles and cities found on the world map will be a reflection of what they really look like on the inside, I’m told. In the previous game, these were just tiny identical models for each type of settlement.

It looks good, especially compared to the Mount & Blade of old, which you can see here.



I wander to the village of Lysia. Inside, it looks green and lively. There are geese and chickens and pigs roaming around. Vegetable patches, stone cottages, animal enclosures, and peasants going about their lives.

An excellent chance to walk among the people. Except, I can’t find the button to get off my steed. This is embarrassing. I suppose I’ll just speak to everyone from my literal high horse. This is how I meet Nasiclys, a man I presume is the local elder. He tells me to watch myself around him because he is a big deal in the village. He is listed by the game as “Owner of bog”.

“They know me as Valtis,” I say. “Mark it down, you shall be hearing of me a lot.”



Nasiclys the bog man does not frighten me. So I hire two of his finest men (his only two men) just to show him I have the gold to throw around. Now I have one archer and one recruit spearman. I leave the village, feeling shrewd and powerful. Then I run into a group of 11 desert bandits.

“Maybe we can work something out,” I say.

I pay him 179 gold pieces to leave us alone. It’s good to know that throwing your weight around is still the best way to negotiate in the sequel, and a viable way to get money. It’s just a pity that I’m the one paying up this time.



But enough of this failure. I ride into the deserts, toward the lakeside city of Razih. There’s a Middle Eastern vibe to these southern lands. The toy-like trading caravans who criss-cross the world map have gone from using horses to camels. Meanwhile, Razih is a much larger settlement than the bog village. There are 279 troops inside the city, so a siege is probably out of the question. Although the flavour text tells me that the populace isn’t exactly happy with things under the current Emir.

“You hear some complaints about prices, shortages and greedy merchants,” it says, “but no more than normal.”

I go for a walk around town but it’s the dead of night. The market is empty and I don’t know where to go. Luckily, if you hold down “Alt” you can see all the notable characters and places in the city.

Places like the hall of the local Lord, or the dungeon, or the tavern. I head to the Lord’s hall. A pleasant Moorish-style riad at the summit of sixty-six steps, with a star-shaped pool outside the doors.

“Sorry,” says on of the guards, “But we don’t know you. We can’t just let anyone in.”

I give him 100 gold.

“Now I remember you,” he says.

I’m allowed in. I instantly march to the top of the chamber and approach the most important-looking man in the room. A bloke called Addas. He doesn’t look like an Emir, but he’s civil and well-dressed. He asks me my name.

“They know me as Valtis,” I say. “Mark it down, you shall be hearing of me a lot.”

I tell him I’d like to join his people, the Aserai. To offer my sword in vassalage. Me and all of my, uh, two men.

“You will need to talk to Unquid about that.”



That’s what Addas is like, you see. All pleasantries and civility until you want to make a formal declaration of allegiance to a foreign sovereign state. He tells me to seek out the Emir of this realm, Unquid, who’s currently tearing around another part of the map with his army. This is very Mount & Blade, and it’s reminding me why I like the games, repetitive dialogue and all. I look at my map and make a mental note about the coastal city of Quyaz, where the Emir has been spotted.

I could also have taken a side quest from this guy, but decide to leave the hall without one. Matthew, the RPS video person who was playing a campaign alongside me, recorded his own side quest adventure about training some peasants into a force resembling a militia for a local chieftan.

Perhaps it was time for me to get into a similar scrape. But on my own terms! However, that depends on making some new friends, which means going to the local tavern. It looks like Taleworlds is still working on the lighting.

Like previous games, you can still hire people in the tavern. These are named characters with skills and a better life expectancy. The companion menu shows space for five close pals, special roles you can assign to certain people: Engineer, Surgeon, Quartermaster, Sergeant, Scout. I remember in previous games the companions often bickered and you sometimes had to tell them to stop annoying one another, like some sort of frustrated war dad. I didn’t get to see if those strained relationships were a part of the sequel or not, but I would be disappointed if they didn’t show up.

In the pub, I meet two thugs and a bloke called “Jaim the Falcon” who claims to fight for honour and glory. I have no interest in those things, but I hire him anyway. The thugs too. They will make good henchmen, you’ll see.

After the pub, I visit a man on the outskirts of town who calls himself “Farim the Demon”. They’re very theatrical in this town. I don’t walk to this fella, like I did with Addas in the Lord’s hall. Instead, I simply make use of the town menu. As in the old games, you can start a dialogue with people just by clicking around these menus. You don’t need to hoof it everywhere if you’re not into the deep role-playing side of things. Normally, I’m a hoofer, but I’ve only got five minutes left to play. So I zoom to Farim by clicking on his turbaned head.

“Peace to you stranger,” he says, “What is your name?”

“They know me as Valtis,” I say. “Mark it down, you shall be hearing of me a lot.”

Farim ignores my impudence. He is a local crime lord, according to the game. He doesn’t mind talking in the dark.



He says there is a caravan that has been cornered by bandits out in the sticks somewhere. And me and my ragtag bunch of thugs, knights and bog men are just the crowd to help them out. But Farim is going to have some militia men follow us and join in the fray. I’m also told to make sure I have enough food to feed my posse.

The trading here offers a familiar assortment of goods to the seasoned Mount & Blader. There are weapons like crossbows and spears. There’s clothing, armour, and ammo for your archers. There are cows and horses, a welcome return for any player who loved to steal cattle from villages and sell them in the big cities of neighbouring provinces. Not that I, Valtis, would do such a thing.

Then there’s food. This keeps your troops satisfied and energised. I buy some dates, meat, cheese, fish, salt, olives, grapes, beer and flour. This shopping screen is much neater than the basic square filling inventory boxes of Warband. For a sense of how much they’ve tidied it up, here is the new trading interface.



And here is the old trading screen from Mount and Balde: Warband.



That’s a welcome improvement. Anyway, let’s buy all these delicious things and feast! Ha ha.

“You don’t have enough money.”



Oh right. Yes. Cash. I put the most expensive picnic food back on the shelves and make do with the basics. I set out with my new militia men and without hesitation I neglect to do anything Farim asked of me. That’s right, I’m going to the city of Quyaz to find the Emir. This is the true joy of this sword ‘n’ shield sandbox – you can just do whatever. I forget about Farim’s mission and decide instead to wander past the good-looking cliffside city of Husn Fulq.

These are excellent ambush lands, but we make it through okay. The demo is nearly over, however. There’s no way I’ll find the Emir in time. That’s disappointing. So I guess I’ll take out my frustration on some sea raiders. Have at ‘em boys.



The militia have abandoned us, so it’s just me and my five bog thugs against these five Viking-like outlaws. I fancy those odds, mostly because we have some horses and they don’t.

It’s a grubby night time skirmish, unlike the large battles between hundreds of soldiers that the later game will deliver, once you’ve built a name for yourself and earned a big bag of coin. But it does a decent job of reminding me of how enjoyable it is to swing a sword. I could have gone into the arena of any nearby city and tried out the combat more thoroughly, but I played the multiplayer battling last year, so I felt more drawn towards the RPG elements this time. Of course, that did not stop the bloodlust bubbling up when the last sea raider was running away.

Victory. But now the demo was over and that made me sad. This was only a small taste of a game that has been far too long in coming. It basically seems like a big shiny upgrade to everything that made Warband and its ilk so alluring. I didn’t get time to explore the depths of its diplomacy, or to figure out how your character learns new skills. But the flavours I did catch are all familiar: the sweetness of freedom, the saltiness of being captured and taken prisoner, the bitterness of oddly repetitive dialogue. But principally it feels like another massive, moreish meal of RPG-strategy wanderlust. I’m happy enough for it to be just that. If the campaign is anywhere near as freewheeling as the demo suggests, Bannerlord will probably take over my life for a few weeks when it does come out.

So mark it down, you shall be hearing of it a lot.

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord still doesn’t have a release date :(
 

Emily

Arcane
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Messages
3,068
I can't wait to take a bow and ride my horse killing bandits for 150 hours, exactly the same of what I did in original mount&blade except 27 years later and with marginally better graphics.
Lol hopefully they nerf/fix the lance. It was just stupidly OP.
 

Dickie

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 29, 2011
Messages
4,235
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I can't wait to take a bow and ride my horse killing bandits for 150 hours, exactly the same of what I did in original mount&blade except 27 years later and with marginally better graphics.
Don't forget they added all the features people had been clamoring for, like realistic scabbard sway and additional horse colors.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom