Mount and Blade: Warbands

[Erkki]

Maybe thumbs guys could join the RPS "clan". I kind of did already, but I have only been able to play in one "training (k)night" so far.

[Sombre]

Sorry to uproot a dead topic, but I've been playing this lately.

Goddamn is it a weird game. The combat is obviously really solid, and I've been digging the hell out of this game. I'd recommend you all play it if you're into really realistic combat sims. What makes it kind of special is just the sheer open ended nature of it though. You literally have a horse, and can go anywhere you want, and do anything you want. Wanna fight off bandits, Seven Samurai style? Go for it

Wanna opress villagers by stealing their cattle? That's doable. Wanna build up a small force, take over a city, take over a castle, then take over the world? That's doable. I'll leave you guys with a story that happened last night which blew my head off.

So I'm on my way to an allied city to deliver a message, when I start being chased down by a set of guys. I initially thought "Oh shit" and booked it, but my paltry 5.4 speed couldn't outstrip their 7(!).

So I get caught up to, and it's the Nords, who as a proud Swadian, I'm at war with. They chase me down, and it's their 60 guys against my 19. I think I MIGHT be able to take it if I'm clever. I run to a choke, and decide to make my stand there. With cavalry charging, infantry holding, and archers at the back, I think I can take it. An enemy huscarl FLIES AT ME and takes me out in one hit. I am taken prisoner.

They didn't get far though with me, being caught in combat with my biggest ally. I escape as he's still in engaged, so I think it's my chance to shine. After a few steps, I figure "Actually, I'm getting in on this fight". I jumped in, adding 1 man to a 60 on 50 fight. I long range snipe and we quickly rout the enemy. Not only did I get my revenge, but I also got my troops back which had been taken prisoner, and had been with me since the start of the game. I also took one Nord prisoner, and subsequently sold him into slavery

Let nobody say I am an unmerciful lord

[Erkki]

The new game, With Fire and Sword is out. It kind of seems a bit shit at first glance, though -- at least the multiplayer, firearms seem to bring an unbalance into the mix. They seem less precise than bows, but instead of aim getting worse when you hold it, it gets better, so it's really dangerous to go too close to a firearms guy before he has fired. And he probably has two guns because the reloading takes a while and so you don't know if it's safer after he has fired, either.

And they didn't fix my only big problem with the single player game: the waiting around when travelling big distances on the map. And I'm not sure I like the firearms in SP either.

But the map and era are different and more connected to the real world. They even have my home town (Reval) in there. And it looks like you can send caravans to earn money for you without being in the caravan yourself. For that, I might play this when I get the urge, instead of finishing my Warband game.

[Erkki]

Oh wait, apparently With Fire and Sword doesn't have tournaments, ruling your own kingdom and some other features from Warband. I hear it's mostly because it was originally based on the original Mount & Blade, not Warband. Read it from some comments here:

http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,168249.15.html

Not sure which game to play now...

[K-bohls!]

Mount and Blade was one of those series that always interested me but I never got around to playing. So I was actually pretty interested in seeing how FaS would turn out, and now I am wondering if I will ever buy one of these games. It really seems like all they did was splinter the community, especially because there already is a gun mod for Warband. So now I am left sitting on the sidelines waiting to see which game ultimately takes over as the version you should get.

[Erkki]

  K-bohls! said:

Mount and Blade was one of those series that always interested me but I never got around to playing. So I was actually pretty interested in seeing how FaS would turn out, and now I am wondering if I will ever buy one of these games. It really seems like all they did was splinter the community, especially because there already is a gun mod for Warband. So now I am left sitting on the sidelines waiting to see which game ultimately takes over as the version you should get.

Warband is that version currently, judging by that forum poll I linked to. It's also got very decent multiplayer. I played 400 hours last year! (shudder)

[F4T C4T]

I haven't played Fire and Sword but I'm just not interested in it. Warband has enough for me that I keep returning to it again and again and I can see myself doing so for years. It doesn't help that FaS's setting isn't as appealing to me but mainly I think it would take a proper sequel to entice me to buy another one of these, and by that I mean production values.

The mechanics are all there (although there's room for improvements in the refinement sense) but imagine Witcher 2 like quality in battles & towns and a Shogun 2 quality world map.

I don't mean to be so down on the graphics as they haven't stopped me enjoying the series at all, but at this point I'd just like to see a bit of improvement and polish in future releases if I'm going to spend anything. I appreciate that they are a small company and why this (probably) won't ever happen though.

I can but dream!

[Erkki]

  F4T C4T said:

I don't mean to be so down on the graphics as they haven't stopped me enjoying the series at all, but at this point I'd just like to see a bit of improvement and polish in future releases if I'm going to spend anything. I appreciate that they are a small company and why this (probably) won't ever happen though.

Yeah, the World Map is especially bland. And you spend maybe half of the game there, waiting for your guy to reach the next town/village.

[Erkki]

  F4T C4T said:

I haven't played Fire and Sword but I'm just not interested in it.

Probably not worth the purchase. I bought it mostly because I'd like to give them money as last year I spent more time playing Warband than all other games together probably.

[Erkki]

Argh, the Warband multiplayer is tough. I haven't played it much in almost a year so I'm rusty, and I'm getting my ass whooped all the time. Lost 20 duels in a row. Only managed to win some by well-timed but lucky chamber blocks.

[K-bohls!]

So TaleWorlds announced a DLC/expansion for Warband based during the Napoleonic Wars. As someone who never bought a M&B game this is going to do it for me, the idea of large scale multiplayer battles set during the Napoleonic Era makes the armchair historian in me go wild. Seeing as the multiplayer community for Napoleon: Total War is in the shadow of Shogun 2 I hope M&B Warband: Napoleonic Wars catches on.

Did anyone play the original mod this is based on, Mount and Musket?

[Orv]

  K-bohls! said:

So TaleWorlds announced a DLC/expansion for Warband based during the Napoleonic Wars. As someone who never bought a M&B game this is going to do it for me, the idea of large scale multiplayer battles set during the Napoleonic Era makes the armchair historian in me go wild. Seeing as the multiplayer community for Napoleon: Total War is in the shadow of Shogun 2 I hope M&B Warband: Napoleonic Wars catches on.

Did anyone play the original mod this is based on, Mount and Musket?

There's an entire thread over at SA devoted to weird Mount and Blade mods, and we started with Mount and Musket. It's fun, but I got tired of it and basically just do general admin stuff for the group now.