Mount & Blade - duff game or duff gamer?

strumpusplunket

strumpusplunket

strumpusplunket

Soldato
Joined
5 Feb 2009
Posts
3,896
Finally got around to installing Mount and Blade the other day, having had it sat in its case for a few months.

First impressions were that it looks dated. Really, really dated. I can probably get over that if it sucks me in enough, though.

The real turn-off came when trying out the combat mechanics. I had heard this game praised most of all for its fluid and engaging combat style, but I just can't get on with it all. My character swings his sword in a stupidly slow arc or a ponderous forward lunge while my opponents just hack me down whilst I'm still mid-swing.

Am I doing something terribly wrong? Is there a good game worth preserving with under the blocky and drab graphics? Is the combat system actually as good as I've heard? If so, any tips for a rather impatient noob?
 
Ok. Cool. Thanks. I think I need to practice. I actually couldn't even do the tutorial battles! I got frustrated and dived straight in and got slaughtered :)

Will give it another go this evening, I think.

Searching for the ENB mod too, which looks interesting on first reading...
 
Wow, so it seems this game divides opinion a bit!

I did turn combat speed to normal because I never like playing anything on easy, but I might have to revisit it and try again on slow at first to get used to it.

Now playing Metro2033, though, and wondering how well I'll get to used to playing in blocky-land after that :)
 
Is Warband a better game for SP, then? I thought I'd read in reviews that it was not such a good SP experience, and was mostly notable for its MP element. Is this not right? Would it be better to get that and jump straight in?
 
Ok, got quite into it after the words of advice I read here and elsewhere. The mounted combat part of the game is really excellent. Love couched lance damage!

I'm also in a bit of a rut where I just don't really know what to do. Don't have quite enough money to build an army capable of more than banditry or killing raiders, but doing that is only really keeping me ticking over. I seem to have milked most of the trade routes I knew dry, and I don't want to join a faction yet.

Still, I'm glad I persevered with the initial combat learning curve...
 
EdwardTeach said:
You really need to join a faction!

I joined the Vaegirs. I built up my rep within the faction by going on campaign with them and eventually I was made Marshall. When you are marshall you can direct the campaign, i.e the other lords of that faction will follow you and join you in sieging cities/castles.

When you conquer a city/castle you can request that the king awards it to you. Initially he will every time, but eventually he will refuse and this will give you the opportunity to rebel and start your own kingdom.
That what I did, I now own 75% of the map! When you have you own kingdom you can recruit other lords to join you. (your chance of successfully recruiting is aided by them liking you and having a high honour rating).
Click to expand...

Right. I thought it was a bit early for that, since I'm only level 13 and have a company of 18. Just about turning a profit from trading and bandit hunting. Would joining a faction increase my income enough to actually do anything useful? Any suggestions on which faction? I was leaning to Swadia originally, but they have lost a bit of territory since then. The Rhodoks and Vaegirs also look good possibilities due to only having one hostile border...
 
STILL in deep with this game! Got to day 150 or so on vanilla, then decided the game needed some extra features, so started again by importing my character into Native Expansion.

Had a complete riot! It really irons out some of annoying kinks in the game. I found I was able to recruit a larger army, and eventually got the balls to try a blitzkrieg attack on the Rhodoks. Pretty epic war ensued, with my rag-tag band just about holding together by the time we took their last castle. Then the Khergits demanded Veluca and declared war when I refused.

Much frantic recruiting of defeated Rhodok lords, distributing fiefs, and making a huge raiding party with Nizar saw me just about hold off their first attacks, and then had a big showdown with their entire campaign group. Lost a lot of men (and women), but ended with over half the Khergit lords imprisoned in my tower at Jelkala. And that was the Khanate finished as a fighting force. A trivial matter to roll over their remaining towns and castles. Epic stuff!

By this time I had a core of 170 crack troops - all levelled Merc Captains, Cavaliers and Counts - and a massive secondary army led by Nizar following me around. The Swadians never knew what hit them! Came across a huge war group near the Khergit border and decided to take them on. Just got to the stage that Swadia is no more. Now... do the Nords or the Vaegirs fall next? :)

Really engrossing gaming. Having a blast!
 
It's much easier to do in Native Expansion since you can recruit imprisoned lords of defeated factions as well as assign fiefs to your companions. In vanilla you're basically left to run your kingdom on your own and your groups is pretty much its only army. Native Expansion gets around this and gives you several other kingdom management options as well, making starting and running your own faction a much more viable option.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom