Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord - My Thoughts And Expectations
I've been playing Mount & Blade: Warband for around three years. I was addicted to it the first year, then played on and off for the other two years.
This is a game that made a significant impact to me. The whole idea of a medieval sandbox game where you can gather troops, fight in battles and wars, run economic and political affairs and eventually even building your own kingdom really appealed to me. Of course, like most sandbox games, they tend to get dull the longer you play it. This happened to me when i reached the total end-game when my kingdom was expanded over the whole map. Let me acknowledge this was not done once, but a couple of times. It's surprising it still attracts me to create a new character once in a while and spill some more blood on the fields.
Of course when i heard the great news that TaleWorlds are going to release Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, i got really hyped. The new combat system, sieging system, more in-depth lore and other feature expansions really made a big impression.
Their most recent blog covered the most dull feature i found in Warband, which are quests.
One aspect of Bannerlord that featured in the write-up is quests, which is what we're discussing in this blog entry. As a sandbox game, the essential function of quests in Mount & Blade is different to that of a linear or story-based RPG. Our goal is to use quests as a way to encourage the player to interact with the sandbox, and help form the player's relationships in the world.
This got me even more excited, as the quests in Warband got really repetitive and really, some of them weren't worth the time. That's why i would always steal the lord's taxes when i was sent to collect them in Warband.
Another big game changer in my opinion is the new siege system. The whole new mechanisms will be a great addision in experiencing a more realistic siege. In Warband, defending against a siege was really easy. My troops would just create a clusterfuck at the siege ladder, while i hang out by the sides and pick off my enemies one by one. But i guess that's what made it a possibility for me to win unwinnable battles and it was really fun.
I think the fact that the developers are taking a long time to release the game is great. I imagine the finished product will be really polished. Also, the fact that TaleWorlds listen to their community and take their opinions on features into consideration is fantastic. We won't see that everyday. Are you waiting patiently for the release of M&B II: Bannerlord? Share your thoughts :)