Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

[Avellion]

I honestly can't wait, fuck the haters.

I am sure it will be great when it comes out, right before Grimoire.

I loved warband, but I dont think I would be willing to buy Warband Rehash with better graphics. I want to see the combat, mounted and command mechanics.

 

[Untermensch]

Have they said anything about diplomacy, or settlement management?

The graphics are pwetty and all that, but I think most people don't play Mount&Blade for the graphics. I'd be more interested in a video showing improved and expanded gameplay.

 

[deuxhero]

I notice they say "hundreds of agents acting independently in real time". This confirms that battle size is at least doubled (or maybe they based it on 50 cavalry vs 50 cavalry with all 100 dismounting to make 100 horses which could, in theory, happen in the original)

 

[Space Satan]

800x800 battes were extremely fatiguing and as a rider your chances to survive till the end were minimal even with top armor. I hope they would be able to make some changes to such battles. For me M&B were the best when fighting 75 vs 75 or 100x100 at most. Where your actions, like killing several elite knights or breaking enemy formation, COULD turn the tide of battle and thus hard earned victory brough lots of enjoyment and satisfaction.

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

The mass battles with Battle Sizer were one of the main reasons I played, though doing that with Prophecy of Pendor or Blood and Steel could tank your frame rate like nothing else.

 

[Space Satan]

M&B FPS behaviour is strange, to say the least, I could run massive battles on my old rig ithout problem but sometimes my 6 core processor with 15 GB RAM and 2gb video card could not handle 30 vs 30 battle. Sometimes it was fog effects, sometimes game just have to be restrated to get FPS back to manageable levels.

 

[set]

Well, not bad so far. In fact it looks like a modder wet dream.

Hype commencing.

Though, I would prepare to settle. You can't possibly have 3000 actors fighting each other in an engine like that. Maybe 200v200 will be playable, but 3k+ is only possible on M&B because it's got such low tech low budget low everything shit.

 

[Space Satan]

Original M&B was not optimized well. Total War could handle thousands of units on the battlefield with rather decent model quality. That gives me hope that with all revenues from initial M&B success TW could invest in their new engine much more.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Sorry I havent followed the developments in the last year .. In the video they talk about a 225 km² map, is this a seemless map now? That would be a dream. M&B appeal was very limited by these tiny maps, felt more like playing on football fields.

 

[Space Satan]

M&B world map would beok even with rather limited size should there be actual...something. Emptiness and limited landmarks were one of the few complains. Basically only towns, villages and castles, plus training camp and a random hiding place for brigands.

 

[IDtenT]

I don't know. Enjoyed the emptiness of the world map. I don't like games trying to be anything other than a game.

 

[Space Satan]

It would be better to have mills, quarries, bandit trade posts, slave markets etc. Mods fixed it mostly but it would be better if the game layed the foundations for it.

 

[Merlkir]

I think there will be an overworld map. (they've shown it in the old leaked video) That could be old news, obviously, but the 225 km squared map was probably meant to show how robust their new system is.

 

[Turisas]

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord Developer Blog 9 - Ethnic Instruments

Sturgia stronk!

 

[Gregz]

Kick authenticity to the curb and stick with what works I say.

The purpose of music in a game is to invoke MAJESTIC EMOTION!

 

[Metro]

Snail's pace.......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[Space Satan]

I kinda missed their Q&A:
Q: You have done a great job, improving the combat system from M&B to WB. Between M&B's horizontal slashes and WB's more florid animations-in which you have added the kick feature-there is a gulf. How do you plan to proceed with M&B2? Will it be simple evolution, or do you consider to completely transform the hit and parry system?
A: We are re-doing everything again, we are not using anything from the old games. As for the game mechanics, I know for sure we are going to work on the parry system. We implemented it into the later versions of Warband. We are also rewriting all the animations for blocking, for example. Blocking was nice, but you know, was a little “blocky”, back then. There are some attacks that you can’t just stop with an upper block, you have to divert it, we are taking care of stuff like that. It’s going to be an evolution, as you said, not a revolution. The combat system is going to be essentially the same, but it’s going to be improved. A lot. We changed programming language and everything…

Q: And what about the module system?
A: there won’t be a module system anymore. It’s going to be a lot more accessible, the whole structure of the game is being rewritten, tenths of times, for the modders to do whatever they please. We created a new game from scratches. What has started as a husband and wife project has expanded, as you know, and the new code began accumulating on top of the old code. It became a little clumsy, it is natural. Have you messed with the shader file, for example?

Q: I didn’t have the courage. But I remember seeing the zombie texture around the folder, a few times.
A: exactly. Many things right now are hard coded, like animations, that can’t be changed without the help of a developer. You won’t have as many limitations in M&B 2.

Q: Regarding the map, will there be a new map? Will the world change, will it remain the same? How’s it going to be for single-player lovers?
A: the game, in terms of campaign and the world itself has changed like three times from now, but we are pretty confident we are going to keep this version. Let’s just say we are going to expand what you already know about Calradia.

Q: Are you going to focus more on a more accessible playability or are you going to keep on going on the track opened by Warband?
A: Of course, there won’t be anything like a Viking battling a space marine (although it would be awesome n.d.r.), but we won’t be focusing on a specific year. No French vs. English, for example. We are going to expand, stretch and bend it a little. Let’s just say that.

Q: still about the multiplayer, there is a diffused concern regarding TW’s support of the multiplayer community. In regards especially to “official” community sporting events, like the NC and the ENL, and in general the competitive side of the gaming. Will there be in M&B 2 a more stable and organized supports for clans, players, maps?
A: we have been talking about it a lot by now. The Nations’ Cup support, or the new website, which is a little old by now, but was intended to work as some sort of portal page, where you could register your profile, your serial, see the games you owned and stuff like that. Our best effort was put in creating a stable community that supported us, and for which we could produce stuff for. We are also working on some sort of official ladder, a series of official tournaments.

Q: what about players IDs? Will there be a system to officially recognize player names and clans?
A: we are really thinking about it, we like the idea of a player account usable for the forums, the community, the game, the data being gathered in some separate database, accessible from other computers, for example. We are working on it.

Q: Still, there has been a recent controversy, which can be somehow told like this: the attitude has changed a lot since the very beginnings where community-developers interaction was the norm, to this day.
A: We are a lot bigger now. When I got hired first, there was five people at TW. Now we are 25. Working on a bigger, better, stronger game. We don’t really have much to show now, not just yet. There has been no official press release, you know, but the word is out there. But once we are ready to show something to you guys, we’ll get back on track, receiving millions and millions of tons of feedback and comments. We are going to get back on track. We are not a huge, faceless corporate company: the community is all we’ve got.
We’ll get back on track, I promise.

Q: speaking of phisics, how will the players interact with the environments in M&B2?
A: It’s still very early to talk, but we would like the game environment to be interactive as much as possible. The ideal would be to have the player pick-up, destroy and throw stuff. We are rebuilding, or should I say building, a physics engine from scratches.

 

[Zanzoken]

I bought M&B Warband at the last Steam sale and have been playing the hell out of it ever since. It's a very good game, obviously not without flaws but I think it provided a great foundation for a small dev studio to build from. With another iteration or two, I could see the M&B series producing a real masterpiece that we'd still be raving about years from now.

Reading these dev blogs is a bit disconcerting though, because it feels like TW is focusing way more on production values and the like instead of improving the core gameplay. It's not that I wouldn't expect a proper sequel to be at least a little more polished, or that I don't think they are working on the game's design issues... but the fact that the devs are choosing to highlight things like hair, facial animations, and mo-cap gives the impression they are putting the game's core audience on the backburner and trying to lure in the casuals.

I can unequivocally say that better graphics are not going to get me motivated to buy this sequel, and I doubt it will for many other existing fans either. WB looks downright primitive, but beyond that initial moment of "wow this game doesn't look that great" it makes no difference. A good game will suck you in even if the visuals are not top notch, but top notch visuals cannot make a bad game worth playing.

Anyway, not trying to rant or shit on anyone because I'm definitely rooting for the devs here. I would just feel better if they were talking more about gameplay stuff that needs improvement, which a lot of you have touched on already -- better fief management, better interactivity with the world and NPCs, better sieges, etc.

 

[Ninjerk]

They're definitely going full CDP

 

[deuxhero]

"It’s still very early to talk" about major features is not really something I want to see less than a year before release on something in development for over 2 years already

I REALLY want this to be good, but that's NOT a comforting thing to hear.

 

[Avellion]

"It’s still very early to talk" about major features is not really something I want to see less than a year before release on something in development for over 2 years already

I REALLY want this to be good, but that's NOT a comforting thing to hear.

Well, that was back in 2012... so. It was kind of early.

 

[Merlkir]

The core combat mechanics won't change. (iirc they said so in a recent interview)

 

[Space Satan]

M&B main problem was inability to enable several mods at once. They promised to fix it, that's ok for me.

 

[deuxhero]

"It’s still very early to talk" about major features is not really something I want to see less than a year before release on something in development for over 2 years already

I REALLY want this to be good, but that's NOT a comforting thing to hear.

Well, that was back in 2012... so. It was kind of early.

OK, then that's fine. Crisis averted.

M&B main problem was inability to enable several mods at once. They promised to fix it, that's ok for me.

There were few mods that could benefit from that, and most mods included Diplomacy and Freelancer (some of the few that did. Plus even if the module system was replaced by a load list you'd still need Freelancer to be configured for each new faction).

Though I suppose that could be a symtom of such an issue and more mods that changed smaller stuff could be made for Bannerlord.

 

[Thane Solus]

I bought M&B Warband at the last Steam sale and have been playing the hell out of it ever since. It's a very good game, obviously not without flaws but I think it provided a great foundation for a small dev studio to build from. With another iteration or two, I could see the M&B series producing a real masterpiece that we'd still be raving about years from now.

Reading these dev blogs is a bit disconcerting though, because it feels like TW is focusing way more on production values and the like instead of improving the core gameplay. It's not that I wouldn't expect a proper sequel to be at least a little more polished, or that I don't think they are working on the game's design issues... but the fact that the devs are choosing to highlight things like hair, facial animations, and mo-cap gives the impression they are putting the game's core audience on the backburner and trying to lure in the casuals.

I can unequivocally say that better graphics are not going to get me motivated to buy this sequel, and I doubt it will for many other existing fans either. WB looks downright primitive, but beyond that initial moment of "wow this game doesn't look that great" it makes no difference. A good game will suck you in even if the visuals are not top notch, but top notch visuals cannot make a bad game worth playing.

Anyway, not trying to rant or shit on anyone because I'm definitely rooting for the devs here. I would just feel better if they were talking more about gameplay stuff that needs improvement, which a lot of you have touched on already -- better fief management, better interactivity with the world and NPCs, better sieges, etc.

Play it with Diplomacy Mod and that awesome Formations mod, its another game. I cant play without these two.