Overwritten.net
Games => General Gaming => Topic started by: MysterD on Sunday, January 25, 2009, 07:52:00 AM
-
NEW - 4-18-2011:
Mount & Blade: With Fire And Sword
Bluesnews -> FREE Soundtrack released w/ tracks from both M&B: Warband and M&B: With Fire and Sword. (http://www.bluesnews.com/s/121183/mount-blade-soundtrack)
HookedGamers -> Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword -> Preview. (http://www.hookedgamers.com/pc/mount__blade_with_fire_and_sword/preview/article-839.html)
RPS -> Mount & Blade: With Fire & Sword - Gameplay videos. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/02/mount-blade-with-fire-and-sword-videos/#more-52825)
PCG -> Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword announced. (http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/01/20/mount-and-blade-expansion-has-muskets/)
OLD:
I've decided to start a thread just for Mount & Blade -- which I ordered through Steam during their current $7.50 weekend deal, on Friday night.
Mount & Blade is very "sandboxy" -- there's really NO END to this game. No main quest it seems like, either. In this regard, it feels like you have this huge world and there's just not much of a story or anything. You just have...well, you can do what you want on the map. Attack cities; attack people on the map; get a band of a few or lots adventurers to help you; help out Lords and Kings with their quests; kill "Wanted" enemies; battle enemies in Arenas throughout the lands; etc etc -- if anything, this feels very reminiscent of Sid Meier's Pirates! (Remake). Since there's not too much variety there, like Sid Meier's, it probably can and will get repetitive.
Mount & Blade feels like NWN2: Storm, in the regard that you have an Overland Map, can see encounters on this map (enemies, friends, etc). Though, the quests in NWN2: Storm seem to have more depth and decisions to them.
This has to be said -- the controls are excellent. Combats and battles rule in Mount & Blade. You can fight with a sword, a bow, or throw weapons -- all while on-foot or mounted on a horse. I had about 10 adventurers with me, while I was on a horse, swinging my sword -- battling about 12 enemies. And in this big battle -- 60 FPS always on my PC; this must be capped or something. I got it pumped up on the highest settings -- and it looks decent-enough. The game has a built-in FPS counter which you can turn on, and you can see the game's framerate.
All and all, Mount and Blade is cool. Like The Sims and Sid Meier's Pirates! (remake), this looks like one of those addictive sandboxes with no end that I can just come back to every now and then and suddenly realize that 5 hours of my life in one sitting just got suddenly lost.
EDIT:
Since the Steam version doesn't have a link to a (Digital) Game Manual...
Here's the European Game Manual (In English)... (http://mountandblade.scarletsabers.com/files/Mount_Blade_ManualEU_1_.rar)
-
Bah, I attacked a small village by myself and it turns out I was fighting infinitely spawning enemies. There was 15-20 at a time, and no matter how many I killed they kept coming. That's a lot of people for a place with 5-6 huts. I took out about 25 before my horse got stuck on some geometry, forcing me to dismount. I took down about 5 more before they killed me.
-
Bah, I attacked a small village by myself and it turns out I was fighting infinitely spawning enemies. There was 15-20 at a time, and no matter how many I killed they kept coming. That's a lot of people for a place with 5-6 huts. I took out about 25 before my horse got stuck on some geometry, forcing me to dismount. I took down about 5 more before they killed me.
Shit, that's crazy...
-
(http://dessent.net/tmp/doing-it-wrong-ball.jpg)
Not until May (http://www.overwritten.net/forum/index.php?topic=4833.0), dudes.
-
Que, this is the type of game you play for a few hours, at least once a week -- since it never ends and all.
I'm sure I'll still be playing this, into June and all...
-
I know. I just wanted to pimp the thread and find an excuse to use that image.
-
Well, I wanted to try it out before buying it, and the $7.50 sale is only through the weekend. (actually it's after midnight here, the sale may have ended already).
I'm probably being too hard on the game, but I'm having trouble convincing myself that it's worth the $7.50.
-
Wait, does this game even have multiplayer? I'm reading in the Gamespot review that it doesn't.
-
I tried out the demo. Honestly it seemed like a not-so-pretty, complicated Dynasty Wars with less action.
-
no, no multiplayer.
-
Oh. I guess I misunderstood the Everyone Plays thing. I thought we were gonna play a bunch of games together, not just at the same time seperately. :(
-
Que, this is the type of game you play for a few hours, at least once a week -- since it never ends and all
Hehe... kinda like MyD. :)
-
no, no multiplayer.
As open-ended as M&B is without much story and anything, yeah -- an additional MP component would be a pretty cool idea.
I'd buy a MP version of this game for cheap $.
-
Oh. I guess I misunderstood the Everyone Plays thing. I thought we were gonna play a bunch of games together, not just at the same time seperately. :(
Shit, I try to get people to play stuff constantly, and so far the only thing that's happened has been Left 4 Dead. I figure the odds are actually much better at getting people to play stuff on their own time then enjoy discussing it together later.
-
As open-ended as M&B is without much story and anything, yeah -- an additional MP component would be a pretty cool idea.
I'd buy a MP version of this game for cheap $.
Oh, hell yeah.
I guess I got my wish.
Mount & Blade: Multiplayer Expansion Announced (http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=postmessage&boardid=1&threadid=95274&id=0)
Mount & Blade MP Expansion
[January 30, 2009, 9:42 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments
Paradox Interactive held a media event in Stockholm yesterday for European journalists, and revealed plans for a multiplayer expansion for Mount & Blade, which they say will include a number of new features requested by players, including improved strategic AI, extended diplomatic options, new rendering technologies including the addition of High Dynamic Range lighting, and a new multiplayer feature including the ability for at least 32 players team deathmatch battles.
-
GDN has an interview on Mount & Blade: Multiplayer Expansion with Armagan Yavuz of Taleworlds (http://www.gamersdailynews.com/articlenav-1776-page-1.html)
[GDN] What quarter can we expect to see the expansion released?
[AY] We do not have an ETA yet. We want to work on the expansion until we feel it is ready.
[GDN] Will the expansion bring a client/server structure where everyone plays through main servers or will it be more distributed where the games will be managed by the individual ’host’ computer?
[AY] It will be similar to FPS multiplayer games. The network architecture will be based on the client-server model, and players will be able to run their own servers. We may also run some official servers, though we don’t have any solid plans for that yet.
[GDN]What sort of PC and network specifications are you looking to make the game for?
[AY] M&B is designed to run on relatively modest PCs and we plan to keep it that way. So, users will be able to turn off all the fancy new graphics stuff we are adding to the expansion pack if their PCs have difficult running on higher settings.
[GDN] The release said up to 32-player deathmatches. Are there plans for multiple modes like free for all and team or have these not yet been fully developed?
[AY] We currently have only a team death match mode. At this time we don’t know for sure what modes will be included in addition to that at release.
[GDN] The news event mentioned ’Improved strategic AI,’ does that mean that there will be computer-controlled opponents or bots available to play with/against in the multiplayer matches?
[AY] Strategic AI corresponds to the single-player aspect, but yes, there will definitely be computer controlled bots available. In fact, one of the most interesting things one can do will be playing as the commander of a team of AI soldiers against another human player who commands the other team. Here players will need to use their mastery of tactics in addition to their combat skills. It will be possible to mix and match human and AI players in various ways, so we can do a lot of interesting things there.
[GDN] How many maps and what kind of environments are being planned?
[AY] We have got an in-game scene editor, so adding new maps is pretty straightforward. We will hopefully be adding quite a lot of maps. Environments will mostly be outdoor scenes but we’ll add variety by introducing different terrain shapes, as well as different structures such as farm houses, towers, castle ruins, etc...
[GDN] Will there be a Mount & Blade map editor available to allow gamers to create additional content?
[AY] In general, we are trying to keep thing as mod-friendly as possible. Players will be able to use the in-game editor to create their own maps. They will also be able to create mods which use different gera, or have different rules than the basic game.
-
I picked this up the other day (Gamestop, $5..woo!) and its awesome. I even love the quick battle mode that just tosses you into a big fight. I downloaded a mod that allows you to set up custom battles with pretty much as many units as your system can handle.
Thats the other great thing: tons of mods. I'm checking out all sorts of things.
-
I heard the Mod Scene for this game is awesome.
I am still enjoying the stock game, myself.
Eventually, yeah -- in due time, I'll mod it the heck out.
We should so get a list of what are some of the better M&B Mods out there are and link 'em up.
-
So I ended up trying this "early", and I can't stop playing. I've been up past 1 2 nights in a row now, even when trying to avoid doing exactly that. I just can't seem to stop. It's ridiculously addictive, and if you don't like this game, there is unquestionably something wrong with you. This thing is a must-buy.
-
I have never heard of this game before. :(
-
It's a fantastic little game developed by a husband and wife team. It's basically a medieval combat game where you jump into big battles with lots of guys and fight with either thrown weapons, crossbows, bows, polearms, two-handed swords or blunt weapons, or one-handed swords/blunt weapons, either on foot or on horseback, and you recruit various persistent, experience-gaining units to fight alongside you, including some named ones who you can outfit and choose skills for. Then you run across a big overworld map, take quests, develop relationships with various kingdoms and lords, swear allegiances, trade goods to various cities, and all that kind of thing. Eventually it escalates into bigger combat scenarios and castle sieges, and you can start fighting with other actual armies instead of random bands of barbarians, and you can also become a vassal for a particular country and tag along when friendly armies of other lords invade other territories. I'm even at the point now where I've been given a little bit of land, so I have a little measly town to call my own, which I can now upgrade with stuff like a watchtower, mill, or school, and you can do quests at these little places that cost you money, but earn you favor with the people that live there. You can also enter tournaments (where you can bet on yourself and earn renown), and other various non-combat quests. It's incredibly awesome.
There's a fair learning curve to it. I couldn't even beat several of the tutorial missions, which was pretty sad, and I spent the majority of my time in the early game getting beat up, taken prisoner, dragged halfway around the map, and eventually released with almost no money, no horse, and no men. That was pretty frustrating. But eventually I leveled my guy up a bit, got a bit more used to the combat mechanics, and finally managed to pull together enough recruits to win a few decent fights. I managed a steady increase from there. I highly, highly, highly recommend this game.
A lot of complaints have come around about the graphics, but I think they're actually pretty extraordinary for such a small team. This is not an unattractive game, though it isn't a high-tech one. I'd say it's at about the level of Morrowind except the people look more consistent and are animated much better. There are also tons of mods for the game, including a number of graphical overhauls.
Some stock shots:
(http://www.taleworlds.com/Images/Screen_shots/028.jpg)
(http://www.taleworlds.com/Images/Screen_shots/021.jpg)
(http://www.taleworlds.com/Images/Screen_shots/004.jpg)
(http://www.taleworlds.com/Images/Screen_shots/002.jpg)
With the Graphical Enhancement 2.5 mod:
(http://b.imagehost.org/0985/mb670.jpg)
(http://b.imagehost.org/0838/mb702.jpg)
-
That is from a two man husband-wife team?
That's extraordinary! Something to aspire to! I'll buy it just to check it out at some point
-
Even though the graphics ain't nothing special, one thing that's great about Mount & Blade is there can be a ton of stuff happening on-screen and the framerate still won't hit below 60 FPS.
M&B proves that old adage that gameplay should always be supreme. Especially games that do innovative, different, and/or pretty unique things very damn well compared to the rest of the extremely already crowded gaming arena.
It's obvious NWN2: Storm of Zehir took some notes from games like M&B, FF series, and Sid Meier's Pirates, having an overland map and you can run into encounters and all.
-
So I ended up trying this "early", and I can't stop playing. I've been up past 1 2 nights in a row now, even when trying to avoid doing exactly that. I just can't seem to stop. It's ridiculously addictive, and if you don't like this game, there is unquestionably something wrong with you. This thing is a must-buy.
There is something wrong with me.
I tried it, and despite being put off by the ridiculous animations during the tutorial, I kept on. I completed the entire tutorial, then started a new game and took part in 3-4 battles. The concept of this game is pretty cool, but it's seriously lacking in polish and actual content. I almost feel bad saying that, knowing that it's such a low budget game, and you can't exactly expect what would come from a multi-million dollar game. Still, sloppy mechanics and bad animation combine with bland environments of vast empty space to make it just not fun for me.
Oh, and my complaints from my post earlier about attacking the village. I hate infinitely respawnign enemies. It says, "I know you think you're good enough to kill this whole village, and you may be able to fight off the guys we send at you, but 1 guy versus an entire village wouldn't work IRL, so here's a never ending stream of enemies to kill until you get bored and realize you're not making any progress." Oh and my horse getting stuck on geometry, forcing me to dismount and become more vulnerable pissed me off.
Sorry, I understand how the game could be fun. I just feel like there's so many good games out there, some of which I own and have yet to complete, that I don't need to spend time on something that feels to me like the offline alpha version of some failed MMO from 8 years ago.
-
Well, you're wrong. There are no missions with infinite respawns, the game is absolutely no fun if you play it a couple times and put it down before actually getting to anything good, the tutorials are terrible and not at all representative of anything in the game really, and the mechanics aren't at all sloppy, they're spot on. If you can't deal with low budget animations (which I again stress is often better than Morrowind) and a little less shine than something else, that's a personal preference, but from what you said you basically didn't even play the game. It's a game of stages, and it took me hours to even get out of the first stage and get to where I could win a battle at like 15 versus 15 dudes. Now I'm generally fighting 50 versus 50, or 150 versus 150 if I'm fighting alongside others against a group.
-
I attacked a village and saw a group of villagers running at me when I rode in to attack. I killed quite a few, and the size of the group never went down. If the enemies weren't infinitely respawning, they were hiding in behind the trees and buildings, jumping out one at a time as I killed people.
I said I played more than the tutorial. I attacked 3 groups of bandits, attacked a small village, and then went into a castle where I tried to attack people there but they were all immune to my attacks. From everything I've read about the game, the only thing more I have to look forward to is adding people to my army so I'm not fighting alone, but I don't see how that would drastically change enough to make the rest of the downfalls be overlooked. I spent probably an hour with the game, not including all the entire tutorial levels, which I played before starting a regular game. I feel like an hour is enough time to give a game to hook me, hell most games should hook you within 15 minutes or they're doing something wrong.
You say it took you hours to get to a winnable battle of 15 vs 15? I attacked a group of 10 bandits on foot SOLO and killed them. All you have to do is stay mounted and ride past them, making one swing at someone each time you pass by the group. Just make sure you pick someone who's off to the side so you don't get attacked by people around him as you pass. It'll take a bit, but you can defeat 10-15 guys solo as long as you're mounted and they're not. I'm not sure what changes when/if the enemies get horses, but I can't imagine it being much different.
I'll probably regret saying this, but I treid Morrowind once. It gave me a similar feeling and I only lasted 20 minutes or so before I quit.
-
I'm not saying you have to like this or any other game, so you don't need to regret it. I just want it to be perfectly clear that you don't like the game because of your own preferences, not because the game itself isn't any good. And you were also likely playing on the default settings, which both slow down the combat speed and drastically reduce the amount of damage you receive from normal. The game is quite difficult.
-
Mount & Blade is only $8 this weekend at Gamersgate (http://gamersgate.com/index.php?page=product&what=view&sku=DD-TWMB).
-
Mount & Blade is only $8 this weekend at Gamersgate (http://gamersgate.com/index.php?page=product&what=view&sku=DD-TWMB).
Sounds like a good deal to me.
Already bought it from Steam.
I should check into this -- but, I heard you can download the Demo version and turn it into the full version (since the Demo and Full game are the same content; it's just the Demo limits amount of time you can play it), no matter what version you buy (Steam, Retail, whatever) -- as long as you at least have a version of the game that gives you their own special little CD Key/Game Key (Retail, Steam, whatever).
The Steam Version does give you a Game Key, by the way -- if you right-click on M&B (Steam Version) from your My Games list, there's an option to "See your CD Key/Game Key" and it'll display it. Actually, every time you try to boot M&B, if you don't shut the option off, it will show your CD Key every time you boot it up.
-
The new Mount & Blade expansion is called Mount & Blade: Warband, by the way.
Here's two new videos from GDC 09 showing off Mount & Blade: Warband expansion pack that look at the improved graphics, new features, and some gameplay. (http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/03/28/mount-and-blade-warband-videos-give-an-early-look-at-gameplay/)
-
NEW M&B: Warband - Multiplayer video on Shacknews from E3 2009 (http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?story=59012)
-
Mount & Blade: Warband (Expansion Pack) - Trailer from GamesCom 2009 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS3G93YXh4Q)
-
Preview on Mount & Blade: Warband (Expansion) from RockPaperShotgun. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/09/14/brainwaves-from-beta-mb-warband/)
-
M&B: Warband has been delayed until March 2010. (http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewstory&threadid=102974)
-
Huh. Maybe I should download the beta. I figured it wouldnt be long before the whole thing was released.
-
Huh. Maybe I should download the beta. I figured it wouldnt be long before the whole thing was released.
Maybe they delayed it for extra polish and so it don't get left in the dust sales-wise w/ the other 20 awesome games that will sell loads of copies that are coming from now to Q1 2010?
-
Mount & Blade: Warband DEMO released.
532 MB or so.
The demo is actually the full game - but the Demo only lets you go up to Level 7.
Then, you'd have to buy a game key online from them; or just buy the game from a retailer or digital distributor - if you want to keep leveling-up past Level 7.
(http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/63072)
-
PCG -> Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword announced. (http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/01/20/mount-and-blade-expansion-has-muskets/)
-
Mount & Blade: With Fire & Sword - Gameplay videos. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/02/mount-blade-with-fire-and-sword-videos/#more-52825)
-
FREE Soundtrack released w/ tracks from both M&B games Warband and the upcoming With Fire and Sword. (http://www.bluesnews.com/s/121183/mount-blade-soundtrack)