Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

[IDtenT]

Fedora will Fedora. Will see what the interest is like post release. I'm willing to bet it will pick up.

 

[thesecret1]

In the name of Jerusalem mod is still trucking along and looks absolutely massive. That Japan mod too, and both are made by veteran warband modders. I expect incline from those, at least

 

[ArchAngel]

All I see is complaining here but as a person that played the full campaign 3 times with 3 different versions of Early Access the game was a lot of fun each time (actually in one of the runs it crashed too often but I managed to soldier on). And each time it had nice and fun improvements.
I am happy to play it the 4th time after release.

 

[Luka-boy]

I told you clowns that 2022 was the Year of Bannerlord and you all laughed... you LAUGHED.

Well who's laughing now?

TaleWorlds. All the way to the bank.

 

[Alienman]

CEO statement:

“These two years have been a long and challenging road”, said Armagan Yavuz, CEO of TaleWorlds Entertainment, in a statement today. “Developing a massive and complex game such as Bannerlord, for several platforms, and in the middle of a pandemic, is no easy task – and I’m incredibly proud of our team for its relentless, brilliant work. Despite the challenges, it’s also been a rewarding path: we’ve found many synergies that we weren’t initially expecting between consoles and PC, synergies that have made the game grow and be better than it would have been in other circumstances. We’re looking forward to putting the game in the hands of our amazing community, which has been supporting us in consoles since Warband”.

Lol @ synergies. Must be code word for - consoles ruined the PC game.

It's from:
https://cdn.taleworlds.com/static/press/PressRelease/PressRelease.pdf

 

[Fedora Master]

All I see is complaining here but as a person that played the full campaign 3 times with 3 different versions of Early Access the game was a lot of fun each time (actually in one of the runs it crashed too often but I managed to soldier on). And each time it had nice and fun improvements.
I am happy to play it the 4th time after release.

I know the Codex is known for having low standards but please understand that you're the odd man out here.

 

[ArchAngel]

All I see is complaining here but as a person that played the full campaign 3 times with 3 different versions of Early Access the game was a lot of fun each time (actually in one of the runs it crashed too often but I managed to soldier on). And each time it had nice and fun improvements.
I am happy to play it the 4th time after release.

I know the Codex is known for having low standards but please understand that you're the odd man out here.

If by odd you mean I play games instead of just shitposting about them, then sure.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Damn, now I have 2 months to free up all that disk space.

 

[Alienman]

The real trailer:



Kiss kiss, thank you for the money, chumps!

 

[whydoibother]

WOW:

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord will be available on Windows PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles on October 25th, 2022.

As long as they release the modding kit, its going to be alright. Eventually.

 

[Üstad]

What's really pathetic is that all they basically had to do was remake Warband with prettier graphics and fix some of the more blatant jank, and as the cherry on top make the game easier to mod if they were feeling adventures. If they had done that they would have had another success on their hands, instead of this dead horse they keep beating into a pulp.

But they basically did that altough with slightly less balanced gameplay(like armours being too squishy) and broken economy. Biggest crap in the game is skill and perk system, I cant emphasize enough how much I hate for not being able to didtribute skill points on whatever I want. Ugly graphics, overal soulless landscape and game balance forcing you to use same tactic and streamroll were greatest vices of Warband and those are fixed.

 

[The Wall]

I called grandpa Erdogan. He asked me what his favourite Serbian grandson would like for birthday. I said: "Anything, grandpa?" "Anything, Müstafa"

So, I made a wish

 

[Modron]

You could have wished for them to implement their castle building.

 

[The Wall]

You could have wished for them to implement their castle building.

Sure! Castle life and building as complex, fun and lovely as in Stronghold. That'll be DLC for 5$. Thank you!

 

[whydoibother]

I called grandpa Erdogan. He asked me what his favourite Serbian grandson would like for birthday. I said: "Anything, grandpa?" "Anything, Müstafa"

So, I made a wish

He called me too, and asked me the same question. I told him to do anything he wants, as long as it makes the Serb mad. So he issued an executive order to delay Bannerlord again, despite the official release date.

 

[Old One]

TW will finally be able to get started on M&B III.

 

[Zanzoken]

This is just another title that proves good games are nearly always made by mistake. Developers rarely have an idea what made their previous game good or what costumers truly want.

Well said. The thing is, the first M&B was essentially a spiritual successor to Sid Meier's Pirates, which is one of the best games of all time imo.

Spoiler

Pirates

Warband

Taleworlds switched to a medieval theme, then added in real-time action combat, a more sophisticated campaign map, and modding capabilities. And the result was a really good game (with some significant flaws and limitations, almost all due to the new systems TW added to the formula).

However with Bannerlord, they've proven they don't really understand why this type of game works or what people enjoy about it. And the more they tried to expand on the original formula that they copied, the farther astray they went.

I really wish a competent developer would spend the resources to make a competing franchise to M&B. Because when done properly, the immersion, progression, and replayability that these sandbox games can offer is second to none. It's sad that Pirates delivered such a fun and believable simulation in 1987, and here we are 35 years later and Warband is the only decent attempt anyone has managed to iterate on it.

 

[ArchAngel]

This is just another title that proves good games are nearly always made by mistake. Developers rarely have an idea what made their previous game good or what costumers truly want.

Well said. The thing is, the first M&B was essentially a spiritual successor to Sid Meier's Pirates, which is one of the best games of all time imo.

Spoiler

Pirates

Warband

Taleworlds switched to a medieval theme, then added in real-time action combat, a more sophisticated campaign map, and modding capabilities. And the result was a really good game (with some significant flaws and limitations, almost all due to the new systems TW added to the formula).

However with Bannerlord, they've proven they don't really understand why this type of game works or what people enjoy about it. And the more they tried to expand on the original formula that they copied, the farther astray they went.

I really wish a competent developer would spend the resources to make a competing franchise to M&B. Because when done properly, the immersion, progression, and replayability that these sandbox games can offer is second to none. It's sad that Pirates delivered such a fun and believable simulation in 1987, and here we are 35 years later and Warband is the only decent attempt anyone has managed to iterate on it.

Can you give me in detail what exactly did people enjoy in M&B1 that is missing in M&B2 and that is not part of mods for M&B1?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

This is just another title that proves good games are nearly always made by mistake. Developers rarely have an idea what made their previous game good or what costumers truly want.

Well said. The thing is, the first M&B was essentially a spiritual successor to Sid Meier's Pirates, which is one of the best games of all time imo.

Spoiler

Pirates

Warband

Taleworlds switched to a medieval theme, then added in real-time action combat, a more sophisticated campaign map, and modding capabilities. And the result was a really good game (with some significant flaws and limitations, almost all due to the new systems TW added to the formula).

However with Bannerlord, they've proven they don't really understand why this type of game works or what people enjoy about it. And the more they tried to expand on the original formula that they copied, the farther astray they went.

I really wish a competent developer would spend the resources to make a competing franchise to M&B. Because when done properly, the immersion, progression, and replayability that these sandbox games can offer is second to none. It's sad that Pirates delivered such a fun and believable simulation in 1987, and here we are 35 years later and Warband is the only decent attempt anyone has managed to iterate on it.

Can you give me in detail what exactly did people enjoy in M&B1 that is missing in M&B2 and that is not part of mods for M&B1?

Butter quantity

 

[FriendlyMerchant]

I called grandpa Erdogan. He asked me what his favourite Serbian grandson would like for birthday. I said: "Anything, grandpa?" "Anything, Müstafa"

So, I made a wish

He called me too, and asked me the same question. I told him to do anything he wants, as long as it makes the Serb mad. So he issued an executive order to delay Bannerlord again, despite the official release date.

He also called me. I told him that if he really wanted to help that he could send more money to Israel.

 

[notpl]

As long as they release the modding kit, its going to be alright. Eventually.

The problem is this "release" is obviously just a cash grab and it isn't going to stop the constant flow of early access patches which break mods every time they come out. Nobody is gonna make shit for this game until it's actually, for real, truly finished. Work can begin some time in 2024, maybe.

 

[whydoibother]

As long as they release the modding kit, its going to be alright. Eventually.

The problem is this "release" is obviously just a cash grab and it isn't going to stop the constant flow of early access patches which break mods every time they come out. Nobody is gonna make shit for this game until it's actually, for real, truly finished. Work can begin some time in 2024, maybe.

They are a turkish company. If their budget was in turkish currency, they saw it go down more than 80% in the last few years, compared to the dollar market for some of the services they may be renting. If they start selling Bannerlord, they'll get a dollar input to their budget, which will go far with turkish lira salaried developers, and help keep the dollar salaried ones.
So yeah, probably a cash grab, but understandable given the context.

I haven't played Bannerlord much, both since my boomer wrists are too fucked for fast paced action and because it didn't click with me the same way Warband did back when, but I'll revisit it for sure when it "releases". At the very least, it shouldn't have many crashes to desktop, getting stuck in taverns, and the skills should do what the text says they do.

 

[Aemar]

I called grandpa Erdogan. He asked me what his favourite Serbian grandson would like for birthday. I said: "Anything, grandpa?" "Anything, Müstafa"

So, I made a wish

He'll give you anything except his Warband copy for PS4.

 

[Shinji]

Now it's time to start working on Napoleonic Wars 2

 

[Zanzoken]

Can you give me in detail what exactly did people enjoy in M&B1 that is missing in M&B2 and that is not part of mods for M&B1?

First off, the way you've framed the question is already disingenuous. A sequel with 10 years of development, a 100+ person dev team, and a virtually unlimited budget should by default be a vastly superior game to its predecessor, which was an indie game made by like 5 people.

None of the typical excuses for why games fail to meet expectations are applicable here. They don't even have a publisher they can blame it on. The only possible explanation is sheer incompetence.

However, if you want a detailed walkthrough of why Bannerlord is shit, then you're in luck because this is one of my favorite topics. Granted, it's been over a year since I attempted to play the game in earnest, but given that this is Taleworlds we're talking about, I'm sure very little has changed.

Spoiler

- Like its predecessor, the game is pretty fun when you're in the early game rags-to-riches stage, grinding away in battles to amass wealth and a decent army. To Bannerlord's credit, the combat is better than Warband, and objectively good. However, once you start to enter into the "riches" stage -- say around the time you become a vassal in a faction -- the experience starts to fall apart. The AI has little ability to strategize and consistently makes nonsensical decisions. The interactions you have with your fellow lords are shallow and jarringly unrealistic. You would hope to find Game of Thrones style plotting, shifting alliances, grandiose shows of power, backroom dealings, fortunes rising and falling. But there's nothing even approaching that. The interpersonal systems fail to provide for any kind of meaningful interaction, and you are painfully aware the whole time that everyone except you are just dumb bots wandering aimlessly and pretending to look busy.

- The economy is a shit show. Training an elite cavalryman, with the finest weapons, armor, and mount, costs a few hundred gold. Purchasing the same equipment for yourself costs HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of gold... for literally the same shit. Meanwhile, investing in a massive municipal infrastructure project for a fief you own, such as building bigger walls, expanding the barracks, or installing a bigger granary, is... wait for it... free? WTF? There is also the well-known fuckery related to smithing, where you can make millions just from crafting equipment, along with the constant food shortages that inevitably occur, that you can do absolutely nothing about. Just lots of annoying, absurd shit that makes no sense.

- The character system is worse than Warband's, which was already mediocre at best. And it's not that there was no room to do something interesting here... after all, there are a variety of ways for an enterprising feudal lord to expand his power and status. Again I'm going to lean on that shitty HBO TV show... you could be a lord who earns his name based on being a bad ass, like Robert Baratheon. Or perhaps you're an underhanded schemer like Peter Baelish. Maybe you're a shrewd administrator and negotiator like Tywin Lannister. Or you have overwhelming charisma with the common people, like Dany Targaryen. The point is, a skilled game designer could've come up with a character system to support a few different playstyles, and made content to give each character archetype an opportunity to shine if played skillfully. But Bannerlord has nothing of the sort... just boring numbers slowly creeping up on their own, to give you +0.25% damage or whatever.

- Worse mod support than was promised. I am not a modder but the feedback I've seen has been overwhelmingly negative. Mods are the lifeblood of this franchise, especially when the studio itself has such god awful shit-tier developers. And instead of making it easier for talented amateurs to improve the game, Taleworlds has resisted them at every turn.

- Multiplayer. Not something I give a shit about, but again, the people who do are not happy.

- Lots of other little, annoying things. The AI still relentlessly loots your villages just like in Warband, which ultimately makes owning them a chore. Having to do bland, boring quests for generic town and village NPCs just to be able to recruit more troops. Relationships with NPCs still just represented by a boring, numerical score, that you have with an entire clan instead of per individual. The main quest to reassemble the Dragon Banner or whatever, which ultimately means nothing (was this ever fixed?). Getting negative rep with everyone in the world just for chopping some asshole's head off. I'm sure there are a lot more I would be reminded of if I bothered to play this again.

If the goal for a game like this is to provide an entertaining faux-simulation of what it would be like to be a feudal lord, then there is a lot of shit these guys missed the ball on in order to deliver that experience. The premise is strong but the systems are so poorly designed and fleshed out that they take you out of the immersion instead of drawing you in. I suppose if you just really like the combat, and want to autistically grind your way across the map piece by piece, then it's fun enough. But for people who were hoping for a significant upgrade over Warband, with stronger core systems and a few meaningful new features, Bannerlord is a colossal failure.

The only sliver of optimism I have is once the release happens, maybe Taleworlds will stop fucking with the game and breaking mods all the time, which will give modders more confidence to pick it back up and actually fix some of the issues. So maybe in another year or two this will be worth playing again.