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Mount and Blade - How is it?

D

daveyjwin

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
Messages
198
I noticed today that it's on sale on Steam for $4 for the original, and $20 for all the expansions, so I wanted to know what people thought of it nowadays. I know when it came out it was a big buggy and lacking features, but I figure it's had some time for polish, so the question is... is it polished and would I like it? I generally like RPGs and Strategies, and never really got into MMOs before. Thoughts?
 
If you're not going to get Mount&Blade: With Fire & Sword or a package deal, I'd say get Warband over the original. Warband is a basically a substantially improved and expanded version of the original...which sounds like exactly what you're looking for. Well worth the six bucks.

It's a tremendously fun game that reminds me of sort of a combination of the Total War strategy games, the old Darklands CRPG, and a very good 3rd person melee combat game. In short, you can recruit, train up, and command your own personal army and fight along side them in the struggle for world dominance. There's a number of rpg style quests to be found, but, in the end, though, I'd say the game is mostly about fighting battles to expand the power base of your faction, and, in this regard, the game really does excel.
 
Warband has multiplayer. Can me and my friend fight for the same team against computer opponents?
 
I strictly tried multiplayer as my friend insisted I play with him online. I was bewildered, confused, got shot by some javelin looking stick through the eye, and completely lost my competitive attitude. Even started to whine about hackers when I realized that everyone playing were nerdier than me and I was outclassed by stick warfare.

Maybe one day I will give the single player a chance and actually grasp the concepts of the game. But for right now I am still emotionally scarred by the geeks with sticks. I will never look at pencils again in the same light.

Getting quoted Shakespeare by someone's wife as the couple dance over my dead body does that to you.
 
To my knowledge it is the best pre gunpowder melee interface yet.

The whole setting up and then executing your strikes takes some serious getting used to when one is trained in "put your cursor on the enemy and left click" FPS games. I'm no good at it, but watching someone who is is really amazing.
 
cageymaru said:
I strictly tried multiplayer as my friend insisted I play with him online. I was bewildered, confused, got shot by some javelin looking stick through the eye, and completely lost my competitive attitude. Even started to whine about hackers when I realized that everyone playing were nerdier than me and I was outclassed by stick warfare.

Maybe one day I will give the single player a chance and actually grasp the concepts of the game. But for right now I am still emotionally scarred by the geeks with sticks. I will never look at pencils again in the same light.

Getting quoted Shakespeare by someone's wife as the couple dance over my dead body does that to you.
Click to expand...

This really ought to be nominated for post of the year. I am literally hurting from laughing so hard.
 
John721 said:
If you're not going to get Mount&Blade: With Fire & Sword or a package deal, I'd say get Warband over the original. Warband is a basically a substantially improved and expanded version of the original...which sounds like exactly what you're looking for. Well worth the six bucks.

It's a tremendously fun game that reminds me of sort of a combination of the Total War strategy games, the old Darklands CRPG, and a very good 3rd person melee combat game. In short, you can recruit, train up, and command your own personal army and fight along side them in the struggle for world dominance. There's a number of rpg style quests to be found, but, in the end, though, I'd say the game is mostly about fighting battles to expand the power base of your faction, and, in this regard, the game really does excel.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the political (doing things like betrayal and winning lords' favor) and the economic system is really cool. But also the nice is is that you don't even have to get into politics if you don't want to. You can be a raider captain, a slaver, or just a do-gooder, or just an arena fighter. .... or if you're a pacifist, you could be a merchant. Though I'm not sure why you'd want to be a pacifist in Mount & Blade. The only thing you can't do is be a stealthy ninja. That doesn't really work out very well. Though it is kind of fun when you get ambushed in town, you can sort of get those vibes. Forgot... you can also put on a hood and sneak into enemy cities.

The combat system is the games biggest draw though. Multiplayer is tough as nails though. I've been playing M&B since the beginning, but it can be quite brutal no matter how good you are. There will just be some games where even the best will suffer.

DarrisBard said:
Warband has multiplayer. Can me and my friend fight for the same team against computer opponents?
Click to expand...

Certainly can.
 
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cageymaru said:
I strictly tried multiplayer as my friend insisted I play with him online. I was bewildered, confused, got shot by some javelin looking stick through the eye, and completely lost my competitive attitude. Even started to whine about hackers when I realized that everyone playing were nerdier than me and I was outclassed by stick warfare.

Maybe one day I will give the single player a chance and actually grasp the concepts of the game. But for right now I am still emotionally scarred by the geeks with sticks. I will never look at pencils again in the same light.

Getting quoted Shakespeare by someone's wife as the couple dance over my dead body does that to you.
Click to expand...

Classic!
 
Well, I got banned for a week for getting a little overboard on an intellectual property thread...so to fill the time I bought the warband update.

Having burnt many hours getting reacquainted with this game I stand by my earlier statement...this combat system is the real deal; the chambering and releasing of blows, the blocking aspects, the interaction of the various weapons...wow.

The warband edition has a very active multiplayer scene going on, and it IS brutal...very very competitive.

I really think that this is the pre gunpowder combat interface to beat...if anyone knows about a more realistic system I am all ears but as far as I know it is the state of the art. The graphics look a little dated but the combat mechanics are hard core.
 
Warband multiplayer was fun, i don't know what you Shakespeare spouting people are complaining about. You have your half naked huge axe wielding warrior running around and decapitating people in one hit, and then you have your archers/crossbowmen, that can headshot you from across the map (don't ask me how, i have no freaking clue). Occasionally you get a few other kinds of warriors who seem more sane, or noobs.

I don't know if anyone became emperor in the single player game though? Seems hard to do, you have to get to a pretty high level first.
 
jojo69 said:
Well, I got banned for a week for getting a little overboard on an intellectual property thread...so to fill the time I bought the warband update.

Having burnt many hours getting reacquainted with this game I stand by my earlier statement...this combat system is the real deal; the chambering and releasing of blows, the blocking aspects, the interaction of the various weapons...wow.

The warband edition has a very active multiplayer scene going on, and it IS brutal...very very competitive.

I really think that this is the pre gunpowder combat interface to beat...if anyone knows about a more realistic system I am all ears but as far as I know it is the state of the art. The graphics look a little dated but the combat mechanics are hard core.
Click to expand...

Yeah, as far as action pre-gunpowder combat goes, M&B by far has the best combat system. (actually, M&B might also take the cake for early gunpowder action too if you have the right mods or are playing Fire and Sword). Dark Messiah might rank behind it. And I've heard about Severance: Blade of Darkness. Supposedly that's supposed to have an excellent combat system. But aside from a possible Severance win, M&B is the best action combat system of all.
 
I have been addicted to M&B Warband the last 2 weeks. I have only done single player w/ Floris mod pack and recommend Floris to all, it really ironed out the little complaints I had. 10/10 in my book.
 
For someone who doesn't have any of the M&B series, would it be wise to just get Fire and Sword?
 
Warband is one of the best games ever made. If you're new to multiplayer, jump into a deathmatch server for a while (quick respawn, constant fights). Then once you have the basics down it's time for siege and battle servers (which are brutal, unforgiving, and totally amazing).
 
Warband is great for single player too. It's the one to get.... as for Fire and Sword.... has anyone yet played it for long? Might have a better single player story I guess. But I'm sure Warband is pretty far ahead with mods.
 
I put a good 20 hours into Fire and Sword. It was fun for sure, but mostly for the novelty factor. After a while I got really bored with standing around waiting for my musket to reload. The game is just a lot slower and there is less emphasis on melee, which I feel is the best part of M&B.
 
M&B has FAR from the best melee combat system, look at Severance (aka Blade of Darkness) for that.

However as far as mounted combat and ranged? it is the best out there. I just wish melee had more depth/fun to it, it's just too simply and uses the stupid w/s/a/d style that looks and feels absurd for anyone looking for anything that even feels more realistic.

the main thing missing from combat in thsi game to give it a more historical and authentic feeling is actual melee holds, throw downs, etc.

In the middle ages combat wasn't like in the movies, people didn't simply whack away with swords at range, they got in close, you'd see people being tripped, being thrown down, wrestling, etc.

Look at any historical combat manual from that Era, you will see many detailed drawings and moves that show you how to disarm people,t rip them, take them down, all kinds of things that you simply do not ever see in any melee combat system in a video game.
 
Haven't played with Fire and Sword yet even though I've played hundreds of hours into the original Mount and Blade and a good chunk in Warband.

As Warband is really just an improved vanilla gameplay experience with multiplayer I'd say Warband is better in practically every way over vanilla M&B with the exception of not being able to play a few mods.

Combat is better then any other game I've come across and their are a lot of different things to try and do.

If you like medieval combat you will like Mount and Blade.
 
Well OK, I will have to look at this severance. Never heard of it till now...thanks.
 
jojo69 said:
Well OK, I will have to look at this severance. Never heard of it till now...thanks.
Click to expand...

If your into old games also check out Die by the Sword, it sales for 6$ on gog and had a free-swing type mode that I haven't really seen in any recent game.
 
^ yeah I would like to see details on that also^

looked at some screenies of severance...if that is actually a better combat system it is really too bad...I can do without glowing blue spells and goblins and gay WOW stuff like that. Different strokes for different folks, but I'll take mine without the fantasy elements thanks. Are there non fantasy mods?
 
Stiler said:
M&B has FAR from the best melee combat system, look at Severance (aka Blade of Darkness) for that.

However as far as mounted combat and ranged? it is the best out there. I just wish melee had more depth/fun to it, it's just too simply and uses the stupid w/s/a/d style that looks and feels absurd for anyone looking for anything that even feels more realistic.

the main thing missing from combat in thsi game to give it a more historical and authentic feeling is actual melee holds, throw downs, etc.

In the middle ages combat wasn't like in the movies, people didn't simply whack away with swords at range, they got in close, you'd see people being tripped, being thrown down, wrestling, etc.

Look at any historical combat manual from that Era, you will see many detailed drawings and moves that show you how to disarm people,t rip them, take them down, all kinds of things that you simply do not ever see in any melee combat system in a video game.
Click to expand...

What? far from the best? I can't comment about Severance since I haven't played, but aside from that game, nothing I've seen comes close to the melee system of M&B. Some tripping and tackling would be nice... but so far I haven't seen any game that exemplifies that in a stellar way. And often times in large scale battles you get very few opportunities for that kind of stuff when you have blades swinging at you. Ground play is not good for crowds. That's for one on one. With the standup game, M&B melee is unbeatable from what I've seen (remember I haven't played severance).

chockomonkey said:
what? since when? how? details please <3
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Yeah, you have to setup a server. I haven't done it, but I've seen someone have a persistent server where you can mix AI stuff with people. You can also command an army against your friend and his army.
 
Parmenides said:
What? far from the best? I can't comment about Severance since I haven't played, but aside from that game, nothing I've seen comes close to the melee system of M&B. Some tripping and tackling would be nice... but so far I haven't seen any game that exemplifies that in a stellar way. And often times in large scale battles you get very few opportunities for that kind of stuff when you have blades swinging at you. Ground play is not good for crowds. That's for one on one. With the standup game, M&B melee is unbeatable from what I've seen (remember I haven't played severance).



Yeah, you have to setup a server. I haven't done it, but I've seen someone have a persistent server where you can mix AI stuff with people. You can also command an army against your friend and his army.
Click to expand...


The thing (for me at least) that holds M&B back the most in melee combat is the fact that you basically have people just blindly swinging swords around int he directions while moving their body around without context of what their hands/weapons are doing. IT looks and feels very very strange.

When it comes to melee combat, foot placement and movement is a vital aspect of that. The way the controls are setup in mount and blade it just doesn't lend itself well to that.

What make severance great is that in it's combat system, it's setup where dodging/blocking is a VITAL role in combat, not just blocking (though the blocking in it isn't as detailed as mount and blades direction based blocking). However the combat is done via the w/s/a/d keys like jedi knight but instead you press an action key first (so you don't move around stupidly) and then do moves. IT works well with how the combat system is setup and makes movement a very big part of combat, dodging an incoming blow and coming around with one of your own feels right in it, something you just don't get in M&B's combat.
 
I loved severance. Eat a chicken leg and watch your wounds vanish! And Die By The Sword gave me countless hours of enjoyment despite the wonky combat controls. "I'd just like to get to know ya, INSIDE OUT!!!"
 
I enjoyed the original game. I haven't played any of the expansions. With a mod called native enhanced I believe it was called, fixed many bugs and added features. The original game + that one mod I beleive I racked up around 100 hours total. Well worth the $20 is spent on it sometime in 2008 or 2009 I cant remember.
 
Parmenides said:
Yeah, you have to setup a server. I haven't done it, but I've seen someone have a persistent server where you can mix AI stuff with people. You can also command an army against your friend and his army.
Click to expand...

Wow, i didn't know this was actually possible but from the sound of it, it's a lot of work.

I can't wait until they come out with Mount and Blade 2, a re-vamped combat system including dodging/parries and built-in co-op multiplayer.

:hopes:
 
chockomonkey said:
Wow, i didn't know this was actually possible but from the sound of it, it's a lot of work.

I can't wait until they come out with Mount and Blade 2, a re-vamped combat system including dodging/parries and built-in co-op multiplayer.

:hopes:
Click to expand...

It might not be that bad. I just never implemented it myself. There's also some mods that might do everything for you. I'm sure you could set your instance to be "server" on your own computer, and have your buddy connect maybe?
 
MB is great, there is also a pretty robust modding community.
 
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