Game News Mount & Blade goes MMO, ditches RPG

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Mount & Blade

The upcoming Mount & Blade expansion Warband has been <a href="http://www.criticalgamer.co.uk/2009/09/24/mount-blade-warband-%E2%80%93-beta-impressions/">previewed at critical gamer</a>:
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<blockquote>Warband is the expansion to Mount & Blade, that gives the players the one feature they’ve clamoured for since day one – multiplayer… well it has other fixes like AI, politics and lighting effects, but the online modes are the real meat of the expansion.
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To ease the passage of multiplayer into the game, developers Taleworlds have pretty much dispensed with the RPG trappings of the single player game. Gone are levelling, stats and skills, instead you simply pick a faction and a troop (read character class), with slightly different equip depending on the faction. For instance the Viking-influenced Nords, use throwing axes to devastating advantage, while the Mongol-esque Khergit have their intensely annoying signature horse archers. Earning gold from your kills, you can upgrade and customise your equipment once a battle has started, with plenty of shields, horses and upgraded weapons on offer.</blockquote>
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Oh yay. /sarcasm.
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Spotted @ <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com">RPGWatch</a>

 

[Hobo Elf]

Such bullshit.

 

[Kosmonaut]

So that means that AoD Online is a real possibility?

 

[spectre]

Ok, so they've done away with all the things that made the original game fun? Godspeed then, good thing there's enough mods out there to keep me occupied.

 

[Eazy-O]

Meh. So basically M&B Deathmatch or wha... I'm not sure how an MMORPG would work in its case anyway.

I'd like to see how this works, could be fun to hack and slash some buddies for a coupla minutes. *shrug*

 

[Kraszu]

Sounds much better then mmo grinding, they should give also co-op though. How is combat not something that had made original game fun? If they would give big world mmorpg then getting into interesting fights would be close to impossible, army imbalances would be massive.

 

[thesheeep]

Well, for online play I can understand that decision. It would be a massive pain to balance (even more than it is without that) and you still have a load of classes to choose from, it seems. I just hope that the single player game still has all stats and levelling.

But the author of the text is right that it would need something for longevity. Probably cash to buy better weapons or something. Ah, who knows.

That said, you still see quite a few naked berserkers with massive axes charging recklessly to certain death, bless ‘em.

Sold :D

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

I wonder if it includes a return for dialogue for the bartenders?

Silly me, what was I thinking...

 

[Hobbit Lord of Mordor]

So, it was never an RPG, but maybe now we can stop covering it.

I wonder if it includes a return for dialogue for the bartenders?

Silly me, what was I thinking...

"Hail traveler, what can I do for you?"

[3 options]

"Good bye, I have no information to give you"

 

[Ch1ef]

Does anyone know any sex mods for Mount & Blade? Coz i'm playing it right now, and it's boring as hell.

 

[Emotional Vampire]

I smell money.

 

[MisterStone]

90% of the appeal of Mount and Blade is the horse combat. You get on a horse, ride around, and whack people. The rest is window dressing.

 

[thesheeep]

I always preferred to go without a horse, instead slaying mounted guys with any huge weapon I could get my hands on. And throwing axes, of course.

 

[Ausir]

Well, there's still going to be the Polish/Ukrainian Mount&Blade: With Fire and Sword, which is supposed to be more RPGish.

 

[Zeus]

 

[L'ennui]

I think this could be a very good gaming experience. It's not like M&B was a deep RPG prior to this transformation, guys. Either you like it for the combat or you don't play it, but you can't claim it's primarily an RPG platform. The combat has always the meat around the bones for this one, and it delivers. If the same can be brought online with human opponents and some measure of progression through kills, I don't see what's not to like.

 

[Zeus]

Either you like it for the combat or you don't play it, but you can't claim it's primarily an RPG platform.

I think that kind of simplifies things. I liked the combat, sure, but I didn't like it FOR the combat. If M&B was merely a game of large battles, I never would have bought it.

Wooing ladies of the court, pissing off random dukes, getting your own outpost, becoming a merchant who travels from the snowy highlands to to sell fur, being a wandering gladiator or highway robber... all of these things are what attracted me to the game. Even if the combat was something like Rune or any other third/first person action RPG, I probably would have played Mount & Blade, just for the sheer number of options.

Every other RPG let you kill your opponent, but only Mount & Blade let you use blunt weapons so you can capture your enemy and sell him to the local slaver. And no, that's not pro-slavery, it's anti-murder.

I know Bethesda has popularized the open world action RPG in recent years, but their games always cast you as this solitary wandering savior. I haven't played Fallout 3 yet, but I'm pretty sure you can't hire 60 bodyguards and set up a traderoute with caravans and pottery and things like that. Mount & Blade's features aren't the deepest -- it's not the deepest trading sim or anything like that. But it sure has lots to do.

So yeah, ditching the strategic map, the quests, the trade routes and city exploration and distilling it all down into just a KEWL DEATHMATCH GAME is pretty disappointing.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Does anyone know any sex mods for Mount & Blade? Coz i'm playing it right now, and it's boring as hell.

Wedding Dance. Brother downloaded that because the site said it had a story and such.

Cue naked men with permanent hard-ons, S&M whip-wielding nuns, naked girls torured in underground dungons, almost naked cultists, naked barbarians with huge axes chargin at you with a half painted erect penis, etc.

the dungeons with time limits to rescue hostages are fun, though. Also, the minotaur-like survival mode labyrinth (minotaur was a bunch of guys with bull head helmets, sporting hard-ons too, of course, but it's fun to kill waves of enemies that appear all of a sudden).

 

[L'ennui]

Either you like it for the combat or you don't play it, but you can't claim it's primarily an RPG platform.

I think that kind of simplifies things. I liked the combat, sure, but I didn't like it FOR the combat. If M&B was merely a game of large battles, I never would have bought it.

Wooing ladies of the court, pissing off random dukes, getting your own outpost, becoming a merchant who travels from the snowy highlands to to sell fur, being a wandering gladiator or highway robber... all of these things are what attracted me to the game. Even if the combat was something like Rune or any other third/first person action RPG, I probably would have played Mount & Blade, just for the sheer number of options.

Every other RPG let you kill your opponent, but only Mount & Blade let you use blunt weapons so you can capture your enemy and sell him to the local slaver. And no, that's not pro-slavery, it's anti-murder.

I know Bethesda has popularized the open world action RPG in recent years, but their games always cast you as this solitary wandering savior. I haven't played Fallout 3 yet, but I'm pretty sure you can't hire 60 bodyguards and set up a traderoute with caravans and pottery and things like that. Mount & Blade's features aren't the deepest -- it's not the deepest trading sim or anything like that. But it sure has lots to do.

So yeah, ditching the strategic map, the quests, the trade routes and city exploration and distilling it all down into just a KEWL DEATHMATCH GAME is pretty disappointing.

Good points, I guess. I played an early build back when it was underground and cool, so most features weren't implemented yet. You could join a faction, but not conquer cities and gain titles and such. I should give it a whirl in it's present condition. I still think the large online killfests will be something I'd like, but it's a matter of taste.

 

[Kraszu]

So yeah, ditching the strategic map, the quests, the trade routes and city exploration and distilling it all down into just a KEWL DEATHMATCH GAME is pretty disappointing.

I was disappointed when I heard that they want to work on mp aspect, but if it has to be mp then I rather have team death-math then some mmorpg bs.

 

[Severian Silk]

So yeah, ditching the strategic map, the quests, the trade routes and city exploration and distilling it all down into just a KEWL DEATHMATCH GAME is pretty disappointing.

They felt "ditched" in the vanilla game.

 

[Snall Trippin]

Multiplayer is fun as hell, just got in the beta a few days ago. Also in vanilla they're adding some stuff, such as the possibility to have your own vassals (Stuff that's been modded in before) and other crap that looks good. But the multiplayer is the true meat of the expansion.

I'm looking forward to MP mods as it will be awesome. Battles, the only online mode I play, work like hardcore/realism in COD4- one life per round. It's quite frankly fun as hell.

EDIT - just some more notes: In battle anyway (Again haven't played other types) it's good to actually talk to your team (or type as no integrated voice chat, need to use your own) and get plans, tell where you see enemy. So if you're losing and you actually come up with a damn plan...it can friggin work. Even against better individually skilled players.

 

[Ch1ef]

Does anyone know any sex mods for Mount & Blade? Coz i'm playing it right now, and it's boring as hell.

Wedding Dance. Brother downloaded that because the site said it had a story and such.

Cue naked men with permanent hard-ons, S&M whip-wielding nuns, naked girls torured in underground dungons, almost naked cultists, naked barbarians with huge axes chargin at you with a half painted erect penis, etc.

the dungeons with time limits to rescue hostages are fun, though. Also, the minotaur-like survival mode labyrinth (minotaur was a bunch of guys with bull head helmets, sporting hard-ons too, of course, but it's fun to kill waves of enemies that appear all of a sudden).

THIS IS AN ADULT ONLY MOD.
YOU MUST BE AT LEAST 21 YEARS TO DOWNLOAD, PLAY OR VIEW ANY FILES DERIVED FROM OR PERTAINING TO THIS MOUNT AND BLADE MOD.
BY DOWNLOADING THIS MOD YOU AGREE THAT YOU ARE 21 YEARS OF AGE. SERIOUSLY, IF YOUR OFFENDED BY ANYTHING, ANYTHING AT ALL, THIS IS NOT THE MOD FOR YOU.
Oh my, i guess i should not try this. After all, i'm only 18.

 

[Saxon1974]

Oh well, bye bye mount and blade I had fun with you.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

that's the fastest i've ever seen a company go from "cool" to "shit-list".

Quite remarkable.

 

[Davaris]

that's the fastest i've ever seen a company go from "cool" to "shit-list".

Quite remarkable.

There's been rumblings from Codex members on this for some time. From what I remember, promised features didn't arrive despite people pre-ordering the game to help development. Correct me if I'm wrong, as my memory is fuzzy on this.