Game News Mount & Blade will hit the shelves

[Monolith]

Tags: Mount & Blade; TaleWorlds

<a href="http://www.paradoxplaza.com/">Paradox Interactive</a> sent out a <a href="http://www.paradoxplaza.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=306&Itemid=129">press release</a> today, stating that <a href="http://www.taleworlds.com/">TaleWorlds'</a> action RPG/medieval combat simulator Mount & Blade is being prepared for a worldwide release during Q2, 2008.
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<blockquote>New York, USA (January 24, 2008) – Paradox Interactive announced today great news for all fans of medieval combat title Mount & Blade. After several years in BETA, the game is close to completion and scheduled for a worldwide release during Q2, 2008.
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Mount&Blade is a single-player, third- or first-person action/role-playing game with a focus on medieval combat. Developed by the Turkish development house TaleWorlds Entertainment, the BETA version of the game has received acclaim worldwide by gamers impressed by everything from the realistic horseback combat to the sandbox gameplay. The latter enables players to roam the map freely in a medieval world that offers options ranging from hunting down bandits, trading for profit in the game's deep economical system and becoming a commander and taking part in the wars ultimately becoming a great lord of the realm.
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"We believe Mount & Blade could be a genre defining title and we are thrilled to be working with TaleWorlds Entertainment to bring the game to a worldwide audience, said Fredrik Wester, Executive Vice President of Paradox Interactive. "In BETA, the title has already garnered much deserved attention and excitement in the gaming community and this will be a release to look forward to."
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"Paradox Interactive has reached great success because they know their market and understand gamers, which is the main reason we chose to partner with them for this significant release, said Armagan Yavuz, Co- Founder and lead programmer of TaleWorlds Entertainment. "Our vision for Mount & Blade has been an ambitious one and now that we are so close to completion, we can't wait to invite gamers into the world we have created".</blockquote>Sweet. Finally, I'll be able to get it. And with a publisher backing them, chances are it'll be quite polished. Kudos to Paradox.
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Spotted at: <strong><a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com">Gamebanshee</a></strong>

 

[sqeecoo]

Paradox interactive?? Those guys are great! They have released serious niche games of great quality: HoI, EU, Victoria.

 

[jiujitsu]

Good news for Taleworlds. Maybe it'll be really fun.

 

[bozia2012]

Well, it's about time! I bought this game 2 years ago - it'll be good to finally get it.

Also: DONGS!

 

[Section8]

Superb. It will be interesting to see what is considered the final version. I've been playing and enjoying it for a couple of years now, and version 1.x seems like a good way to give it another run after a bit of a break from it.

 

[thesheeep]

Well, it's about time! I bought this game 2 years ago - it'll be good to finally get it.

When did you buy Duke Nukem Forever? ^^

 

[Jasede]

I had fun trying out M&B a few years or so ago, but I felt it, naturally, lacked substance. They couldn't have found a better publisher.

 

[JarlFrank]

I had fun trying out M&B a few years or so ago, but I felt it, naturally, lacked substance. They couldn't have found a better publisher.

It did lack substance back then, but it has become a lot better in the recent versions. I hope for the best with the 1.0 release. Also, Paradox are awesome, they know what games are cool and almost everything they're publishing is fun to play. The games they make themselves are even better. That said, I want Victoria 2.

 

[Bradylama]

So is there going to be a point to playing this time around?

 

[dagorkan]

I doubt it.

I would doubt anyway, seeing how little gameplay wise has been achieved, but especially if it's being promised for 'Q2 2008'.

I hope they are not investing too much because I could easily see it being a flop in the mass market.

 

[deuxhero]

To avert that they should hype it massively a year before its release and add bloom to everything, even the darkness.

 

[Grey]

Bloomy darkness!? I'll buy that!... it'll be like the 'good old days' of Oblivion all over again!

....


I feel dirty...


.... um, did anyone else notice the "role-playing" part of that .... unless things have changed MASSIVELY in the last few months for M&B, then there's not a shred of role-playing in there. Don't get me wrong,... for a 'horseback riding simulation with combat'(tm) it's great fun... but come on... role-playing!?

 

[Section8]

.... um, did anyone else notice the "role-playing" part of that .... unless things have changed MASSIVELY in the last few months for M&B, then there's not a shred of role-playing in there. Don't get me wrong,... for a 'horseback riding simulation with combat'(tm) it's great fun... but come on... role-playing!?

Which makes it pretty much on par with 90% of games released with "RPG" on the box. At least it does combat, sandboxing, character progression and items very well, which puts it above 90% of games released with "RPG" on the box.

 

[Naked Ninja]

Ah, this gives me warm fuzzy feelings. Well done to TaleWorlds. And a great example of how perserverance and catering to a niche market can pay off for an indie.

 

[Otingocni]

I hope they are not investing too much because I could easily see it being a flop in the mass market.

Don\'t think you realize what type of company Paradox Interactive is. Theyve never been about optimal market penetration and all the crap companies like Bethesda are caught up in, which means they develop and publish *shock* Good Games. For one, they are not afraid of complexity, they are the antithesis of dumbing-things-down.

Which makes it pretty much on par with 90% of games released with RPG on the box. At least it does combat, sandboxing, character progression and items very well, which puts it above 90% of games released with RPG on the box.

Hell, it is everything Oblivion wanted to be, except you-know, done competently. Interesting to note that unlike Oblivion, which it heartedly outperforms, was also done without a gazillion people working the project, half of them being various producers.

 

[Bradylama]

The one thing Oblivion has that Mount & Blade doesn't is an actual goal to accomplish. This is something that Mount & Blade's release will need if they want to really attract people. Riding around killing things and developing useless factional alliances isn't going to cut it, no matter how great the mounted combat is.

 

[muds_animal_friend]

I love this game but it's FAR from version 1.0. The only part that feels finished is field combat. If they're seriously going to release it in Q2 (Armagan says May) then I imagine Taleworlds will end up stripping out semi-implemented features rather than completing the existing ones.

 

[Nedrah]

I'm with muds on that one.
Love the game, but it doesn't look or feel anywhere close to final. Combat is fine, but the worldmap layer still needs a lot of love - and so does the overall atmosphere. I understand they want the game out in the open after so much time spent on it, but it'd be a shame if the q2 release ment that its potential is not going to be realized.

 

[dagorkan]

I hope they are not investing too much because I could easily see it being a flop in the mass market.

Don\'t think you realize what type of company Paradox Interactive is. Theyve never been about optimal market penetration and all the crap companies like Bethesda are caught up in, which means they develop and publish *shock* Good Games. For one, they are not afraid of complexity, they are the antithesis of dumbing-things-down.

I do know Paradox and they publish a lot of crap games, sorry.

I'm with muds on that one.
Love the game, but it doesn't look or feel anywhere close to final. Combat is fine, but the worldmap layer still needs a lot of love - and so does the overall atmosphere. I understand they want the game out in the open after so much time spent on it, but it'd be a shame if the q2 release ment that its potential is not going to be realized.

One advantage (for us users) is that it means they'll start on M&B2 pretty soon... which hopefully will have multiplayer. The danger is that by going to the mass market they'll get a legion of new retarded fans and forget the community and the promises they made to us.

 

[denizsi]

No matter how much they polish the game now, it just doesn't look like it's going or will ever go in any direction with a strong focus. They should rather start working on actual modding tools, with partial access to game core and they could have a strong modding base similar to NWN some day. As far as I know, none of the mods go beyond make-up changes with some insignificant workarounds like the ones used in Darklands mod so far (am I right?).

 

[Jeff Graw]

no.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

I thought most of the story amd RPG elements were being deliberately kept out of the available downloads so far, so that there was something for the "release" version?

... or maybe I'm just being optimistic.

 

[Andhaira]

Great news. :D

ALso,the rpg probably comes form the char gen which does have rpg elements.

 

[Deacdo]

I didn't realize Mount and Blade is a single player game.

 

[John Yossarian]

Must there be a story? Can't they just give every faction a sworn enemy and make the goal eliminating it, with or without alliances? How about putting a time limit, and using different victory conditions, like Civ or the Paradox games. Or having a sixth faction, unjoinable, that's just invading the land and you must eliminate (without much exposition, XCOM style, rather than FO).
I agree that the game still needs work to get one of these working decently, though.