Hello everyone,
When taking a look at the 'Hours Played' in Steam under the title Mount & Blade: Warband (MB:W) in the Library section I feel blood rushing to my cheeks. What's this I'm feeling? I think it's called shame; the counter shows an amassed amount of 434 hours played. But aloud I stumble "but, but ... I'm nowhere near done with my campaign!". And that is exactly what MB:W does to you, it makes you forget time exists.
SUMMARY:
MB:W is a mix of the overview playstyle on a map you'd see in the series Heroes of Might and Magic combined with the combat from ... nothing. That's right, there is nothing that comes close to the combat you experience in MB:W. When in melee combat you use your mouse to perform directional attacks: left, right, from above or a thrust forward. The same goes for blocking with the right-mouse button, although I prefer to keep this automated so it just blocks when I click instead of having to choose a direction.
The game throws you into a medieval environment where you either start with next to nothing or with some basic equipment depending on how you created your character (low born peasant versus born in nobility and everything in between). The basic gameplay shows the map of Calradia with you as an icon on it. You move around until you encounter a city, a village or another NPC. Then the game changes to third or first person depending on your liking and you either fight on an open field, siege a city, perform simple tasks or resupply weapons, armor, horses and food.
All of this sounds very basic but this is where it gets interesting. It is up to the player to take the afore mentioned ingredients and get something cooking. The game has a great sandbox feel to it and you have to set your own goals. I've had playsessions go on as long as 5 hours at a time and by the end of it I still felt like I had only done half of what I'd set out to do when I started.
GRAPHICS:
This aspect of the game is where most people find it lacking and give up on it prematurely. Steam shows the demo version of MB:W next to the Retail version; so when I told my little brother about this I finally got him to try it out. It was free after all and it only took me 3 days of nagging and sending him a dozen screenshots (which I carefully choreographed) to get him to that point. However, when he arrived in game it took him less than 5 minutes to say "No thank you and good bye". He's as you might say a critic in the graphics department and he just couldn't bare to look at the game any longer than he had. And I could somehow relate to how he felt, because I had the same feeling when I started playing the game. But from the moment I got hooked on the game I couldn't even see the lacking graphics anymore. I am now so in tune with the game that the only thing that matters is block left, slash right, shield up, wait for opponent to strike and counter.
If I was playing the devil's advocate I could argue that the battlesize (with a maximum of 150 NPC's on one map) was a limiting factor when you take the final product into account. Especially for the Multiplayer mode; you would want big battles but a playable game at the same time. You also have to take into account that not everyone can buy top of the line rigs nor keep their current rig up to date so you will want to keep your hardware requirements in the midrange to reach largest part of your audience.
MODS:
This where the game shines and where most of your hours played will most likely come from. Because I love the Mod and I still play it daily I want to specifically mention Prophesy of Pendor as a must play Mod for MB:W. It even has it's own Wikipedia so do make sure to check it out. It gives much needed polish to the game while adding several layers of depth to the gameplay as well (for example Knighthood Orders).
If you look on Nexus Mods you will find a multitude of Mods for MB:W as well as other games. It's these Mods that make the game an even greater success than it already is. There are small modifications to change the interface or certain mechanics but there are also complete overhauls like Brytenwalda, Prophesy of Pendor and 1257 Anno Domini. Applying these Mods generate the feeling that you're playing a totally new game, but all the while the thrilling combat stays the same. And it's a formula that works.
CONCLUSION:
If you can get past the subpar graphics and enjoy the combat that is offered, you had better cancel any appointments you have made for the coming months (that's right, plural). Because you will find yourself short on time during every playsession of this game.
Basic information:
Developer: TaleWorlds
Website: http://www.mountandbladewarband.com/
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