Review Yet another Mount & Blade: Warband Review

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Mount & Blade; TaleWorlds

And <a href="http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2010/04/03/mount-blade-warband-review/">Bit-Tech scores it 7/10.</a>
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<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;"><b>Warband, What Is It Good For?</b>
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If you can overlook some of these annoyingly-still-present flaws though then there’s a few new things that Warband brings to the table – though the emphasis is mostly on the ‘few’, rather than the ‘new’.
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In singleplayer, the main expansions come at the higher end of the game and are focused on lengthening the playtime through new missions, rather than expanding the skill tree or supplying new abilities. There’s a whole new area for players to explore, but it’s all pretty untailored and impersonal, lacking in the character required to make you actually love the kingdom you're in.
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The kingdom though is what the singleplayer game is now all about, with the logical aim for all new adventurers being to become ruler of the realm, put the new faction under your leadership and turn the lords into your subjects and vassals. Getting there can take a long, long time, but the fact that it’s even possible is going to be a major draw for long-term fans, while providing an incentive for newcomers to prefer Warband over the first game.
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Of course, that also breeds a few problems. Does Warband represent good value for money for those that already own the original? Probably not, unless you’re a stalwart of the multiplayer, frankly. Are we disappointed that Warband didn’t get some of the fixes it so desperately needed and are we annoyed at some of the incredibly basic oversights in it’s design? Yes to both and, yes, in many ways these ruin the game.
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But, is Warband a fun and addictive title that we think we’ll probably be playing for a long time to come regardless of these issues? Yes – a hundred times yes.
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Seems to be good for what it is.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/97408-mount-a-blade-warband-review.html">GB</A>

 

[Rhalle]

Are we disappointed that Warband didn’t get some of the fixes it so desperately needed and are we annoyed at some of the incredibly basic oversights in it’s design?

IT'Z coming.

But, is Warband a fun and addictive title that we think we’ll probably be playing for a long time to come regardless of these issues? Yes – a hundred times yes.

That's the sign of a good (edit: great) game. You sure it deserves a 7?

 

[Shannow]

Are we disappointed that Warband didn’t get some of the fixes it so desperately needed and are we annoyed at some of the incredibly basic oversights in it’s design?

IT'Z coming.

But, is Warband a fun and addictive title that we think we’ll probably be playing for a long time to come regardless of these issues? Yes – a hundred times yes.

That's the sign of a good (edit: great) game. You sure it deserves a 7?

If you factor in what vanilla already had in the addictive gameplay department and what Warband costs, "7" seems quite fair if you see the score as purchase advice. Might even be a little high...

 

[Humanity has risen!]

This has 5$ Steam holiday sale written all over it.

 

[Monocause]

Played a while at my friend's place and tried the demo. The multiplayer gets boring rather quickly and there's not enough new stuff in the SP campaign to warrant a purchase - additionally they made some irritating changes to horseback combat. It feels more realistic now - at the cost of being much more clunky. I may buy it if some good Warband-specific mods come out; right now, unfortunately, it has far too little value for money.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

This has 5$ Steam holiday sale written all over it.

That's where I'll be picking it up. By the game it hits $5, maybe $10 on Steam hopefully there will be some mods out for it so it will be a bit better than the base game modded. As it stands it doesn't sound worth $30 at all.

 

[Yeesh]

Played a while at my friend's place and tried the demo. The multiplayer gets boring rather quickly...

I have a feeling I wouldn't like the multiplayer myself, but you must accept that there are lots and lots of people for whom multiplayer in general just doesn't ever get old. And they're taking over gaming, title by title...

 

[Shannow]

there's not enough new stuff in the SP campaign to warrant a purchase - additionally they made some irritating changes to horseback combat. It feels more realistic now - at the cost of being much more clunky. I may buy it if some good Warband-specific mods come out; right now, unfortunately, it has far too little value for money.

This. But the clunkiness also comes from inexperience. After 2-3 hours I stopped attacking on the wrong side, etc. Still a lot more difficult than before.
But I also noticed some nifty changes:
You can now wield throwing spears (and probably axes/daggers, too) as (weak) melee weapons.
Shields always block stuff that hits them, not only when you actively block.
I saw code for blows/missiles to pierce shields. Didn't see it happening in the game yet, but that'd be fun.
Melee combat, apart from horse combat, has improved and looks a lot better.
The graphics enhancement is also quite significant.

At the moment I'll wait till they stop throwing out updates every day and untill the modding tools are made to work with Warbands items and troops and until someone tells me how to implement some of the 82 tweaks in WB. Then I'll mod it to my preference and after that I'll judge if the new late game options are worth shit.
And depending on the overall verdict I'll buy or not buy Warband in 6-12 months from now. Being more fun than any other game in the last 8 years or so does count for something even if it is an unfinished, buggy piece of crap and the devs don't even have the common decency of releasing changelogs...

 

[Morkar Left]

After some training on the training field and some custom battles I have to say combat IS clunky and seems not to be a lack of experience for me. I have tried various controlvariants and nothing works well.
I can´t really control in what direction an attack should strike. Even if I practice without an opponent, the attacks going only in 66% in the direction I want especially left strikes. And it´s the same with couching; the lance swings unpredictable from left to right (the range seems reduced too?). The camera-angle is always weird and the only position I can see the tip of the lance is in first-person view (which sucks for the rest of combat).
Since the latest patch there is automatic couching again, but the hit chance and lack of directioncontrol is what annoys me the most.
Combat AI seems ok but the enemy is ALWAYS head to head with me. That was in the old M&B too but not as annoying as it is now.
All in all it seems to me that combat is based now more on luck than skill regarding to sp.

Even if I´m not much interestetd in mp (means playing maybe once in a month or so with some friends) I had considered to buy the game for the sp-improvements. But with the strange combat mechanic I simply can´t enjoy the game anymore.
I will give it another final try sometime in the week but for now I stick with old M&B because of combat mechanics.

 

[spectre]

Yep, they fucked it really hard with the combat this time. Swear to drog, I would often dismount to fight, because the swipes from horseback feel awfully random (partially due to animations that look mor realistic, but suck when it comes to controlability).

Although I admit, kicking is a cool addition, makes ground combat really fun.

 

[Shannow]

After some training on the training field and some custom battles I have to say combat IS clunky and seems not to be a lack of experience for me. I have tried various controlvariants and nothing works well.
I can´t really control in what direction an attack should strike. Even if I practice without an opponent, the attacks going only in 66% in the direction I want especially left strikes. And it´s the same with couching; the lance swings unpredictable from left to right (the range seems reduced too?). The camera-angle is always weird and the only position I can see the tip of the lance is in first-person view (which sucks for the rest of combat).
Since the latest patch there is automatic couching again, but the hit chance and lack of directioncontrol is what annoys me the most.
Combat AI seems ok but the enemy is ALWAYS head to head with me. That was in the old M&B too but not as annoying as it is now.
All in all it seems to me that combat is based now more on luck than skill regarding to sp.

I always play in 3rd person.
Move the mouse to the left, hold LMB and you should hold your weapon over your left shoulder, striking as soon as you let go of the LMB. And this doesn't work fo you?
On the horse the difficulty is getting a feel for the camera. It needs tweaking but it "works". Look to the right side of the horse and you'll hold the couched lance to that side, look to the left and it'll be on the left. Quite easy actually if it didn't behave strangely in tandem with the camera. (I don't get your "I can't see the tip of my lance" comment?) Timing also seems to be off. The lance is couched only shortly after you see it being couched. At other times blows connect that I saw missing and blows that should have connected miss...

 

[Morkar Left]

I always play in 3rd person.
Move the mouse to the left, hold LMB and you should hold your weapon over your left shoulder, striking as soon as you let go of the LMB. And this doesn't work fo you?
On the horse the difficulty is getting a feel for the camera. It needs tweaking but it "works". Look to the right side of the horse and you'll hold the couched lance to that side, look to the left and it'll be on the left. Quite easy actually if it didn't behave strangely in tandem with the camera. (I don't get your "I can't see the tip of my lance" comment?) Timing also seems to be off. The lance is couched only shortly after you see it being couched. At other times blows connect that I saw missing and blows that should have connected miss...

Gave it another try today. Changed controls again plus mouse-sensibility and now left-right strikes are functioning most of the time. But they seem not as useful as they were. Kick and overhead-strikes in combination are more effective as far as I can tell (maybe too easy in a one-on-one fight).

Couching is still shit. "I can't see the tip of my lance" means it is very difficult for me to see the tip of my lance for aiming a target because of the camera-angle. If I rotate the camera-view the char often changes the attack-side or just moves the tip of the lance too far for having a chance to hit the target.
And I only practiced with the lance from the tutorial and the warspears(?) from custom-battles which both seem to have a very short range (shorter than original M&B I think). I hope the real lances are still avaivable.
Maybe it´s just practice but it feels clunkier than the original felt right from the start.
I watched some warband gamevids and thought all the time "why doesn´t that idiot use couching instead of thrusting with the spear. He could at least try to read the manual". Now I know...