Mount and Blade series on Steam sale. Worth it?

[WaysideMaze]

Basically I'm stuck off work sick for a week, and am bored shitless since I can't really leave the house much. I'm looking for something new and noticed the Mount and Blade series is on offer on Steam atm really cheap. It's not a series I'm familiar with and was wondering if people think I should just get 1 of the games, the whole bundle, or just avoid it all together.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

check out some gameplay videos, the "original" mount and blade isn't worth it, warband is a standalone expansion that I LOVE TO DEATH, it is a gem in the rough, and is the best to date full scale medieval battles of 60+ vs 60+ i've ever played. It is as close to full control as you will ever get for horseback archery/melee-ing, not to mention you get full control over your troops (using the function keys, you can tell your cavalry/archers/infantry what to do and how to attack/defend, or even retreat.) and you build alliances, raid towns/castles, build your own faction even.


there are a TON of minor details that make this game amazing....

BE WARNED, without cheats, it takes flipping FOREVER to do one playthrough...

I haven't tried the napoleon DLC, although it looks awesome...i'd say for you, get the whole bundle for how cheap it is, and go straight for warband and napolean DLC, and if you like it, give fire and sword a try?

also has rpg mechanics, with leveling, gear selling/buying, looting, what weapons you want to use, finding companions (there are heroes that are special characters, and then there are farmers/random soldiers you can find and upgrade)

 

[WaysideMaze]

Cheers for the help. Can you elaborate on why it takes so long to do one playthrough, and how cheats help?

I think I'll give it a try, been looking at gameplay vids for about 15 mins now and it does look really good.

 

[LetalisK]

Yeah, get it. Just realize something, though. It tries to do everything and it sucks at all of it. However, despite this, the fact that it does do everything in some fashion makes it quite enjoyable. You might consider it a FPRPS4X game. Or a TPRPS4X if you'd rather do third-person.

And yes, make sure you're playing Warband or Fire and Sword.

 

[Wuffykins]

It really depends on what you're looking for. M&B as a whole is a game about putting together a band of cavalry, archers and infantry and then duking it out on a battlefield against someone else's band of merry people, with a pretty flimsy sandbox campaign to string together fights and stuffs. Combat is very well done if you like a kind of medieval combat sim, and I find it's worth picking up at this price to play now and again, especially with some of the mods out there.

That said, general consensus I've seen among the series is this:

M&B: Warband - Definitely pick this one up if the concept in general tickles your fancy.
M&B: Vanilla - Technically a previous version of Warband, and my fav since the combat is more sim-like and less balanced for multiplayer (ie: one-hit kills from archers more likely, mounted cavalry with lances is bruuuutal). Also good as some mods not ported to Warband yet (including a LoTR one).
M&B: Fire & Sword - Kind of the black sheep of the bunch, includes muskets and some storylines, though some consider it a glorified mod.
M&B: Napoleonic Whatevs? - Multiplayer only mod, haven't touched it myself, doubtfull that I ever will.

Also, if you go by the price of the steam sale, the price of Warband and Vanilla together is just one cent less than the price of the full collection (at least in USD), but personally I'm not a fan of F&S enough to consider it worth even that. Other opinions may vary of course.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

Yes. By far.

Just remember that it starts of very, very slowly and sucks at first. When it heats up, it kicks ass.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

The large scale battles are pretty epic, even with the clunky controls. Everything else is kind of poo though. But I've sunk more time into it than I want to admit. Warband for $5 is a good buy, but watch a few actual gameplay vids first.

 

[Ryotknife]

warband is amazing. the graphics are very dated, but considering you can have...what 150-ish NPCs all fighting one another without lag? that is very impressive. and the large scale fights are fun.

yea, it would be nice if it had better graphics, but honestly it would probably melt good modern computers....

also, for a primer on the factions:

Vaegirs: best archers, good heavy cavalry (cost less than swadia's).
Nords: best heavy infantry. These guys are amazing at castle sieges.
Khergit Khanate: all about cavalry. especially mobile cavalry.
Swadia: heavy cavalry and crossbows. Their heavy cav are a bit more powerful than vaegirs, but more expensive.
Rhodoks: best anti cav infantry (ie spearmen)
Sarranid Sultanate: blend of everything. dont specialize in any troops, but are not weak anywhere.

for aesthetics:

nords = hardcore vikings
vaegir = vikings, but more civilized/medieval influence
Khergit = mongolian horde
swadia +rhodaks = typical medieval archetype.
sarranid = arabian

effectiveness:

Vaegir are good at defending castles and in the open field, but suck at sieging (archers and crossbow have the same amount of ammunition, but archers fire faster and do less damage, giving crossbowmen more staying power)

Nords are great in castle battles (their infantry uses shields), but get rocked like a hurricane in the open field if the enemy fields cavalry. also the nords chew apart archers and crossbowmen, to the point where they are basically useless.

sarranid can work in any situation, but requires mixed unit tactics and constant oversight in order to work anywhere. and that is just to be "effective", not "lol i win." probably the highest skillcap.

swadia troops are good in pretty much every situation other than castle sieges, but cost a ton of money.

and honestly i never really fought against the rhodoks too much. but they tear apary cavalry, that much i know from experience. as such my army tends to run the hell away.



i would probably recommend vaegir or swadia to start off in.

also, if world domination is your goal, it is easier to do it as a woman....trust me on this.

 

[Ryotknife]

oh, and one more thing

in with Fire and Sword, be prepared to be BSed on a constant basis. firearms are bullcrud. can pretty much one shot anything, but very inaccurate. sounds balanced right?

wrong. the inaccuracy actually works in its favor. every 5 minutes get sniped in the head by a soldier who was aiming at someone 50 feet to my right.

If firearms were more accurate it would be much easier to dodge them.

 

[The Madman]

Warband is definitely worth it, I can't think of a single other game that offers an experience quite like it. That feeling as you charge headfirst atop your armoured horse into the enemy infantry lines, watching them crumble before you as you swing left and right from the saddle till your blade is red with the blood of your foes. Nothing else quite like it. Mount & Blade as a series just really nails that feeling of melee combat. Doesn't look that great mind you, the animations aren't very good, but when you actually play the game...

Well, I can't think of a single game that does medieval combat better. Not a single one.

Then when you add some fun overworld mechanics into the mix as well ala Sid Meier's Pirates! it just becomes an overall fantastic experience. Not to mention the mods! There are some truly amazing mods out there for this series that even if you get tired of the default game as I have, there are dozens of other options to play around with. Early colonial? Napoleonic era? Medieval Europe? Straight up fantasy? All available settings with mods.

Just such a good game and a great series.

Spoiler: Looks pretty good with mods too. Not great mind you, but good!

 

[LilithSlave]

I keep seeing threads that say "Mount and Blade" and think of "Blade and Soul", instead.

Another one of those MMORPGs this year that might be worth checking out. Wish I could help, but it's obvious from my opening line I don't know much about it or care enough about it to have learned anything yet.

I just thought I needed to share my confusion sometime. Blade and Soul looks so adorable by the way.<3 I'm tempted to play it, even though it's probably just another MMORPG.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Cheers for the help. Can you elaborate on why it takes so long to do one playthrough, and how cheats help?

I think I'll give it a try, been looking at gameplay vids for about 15 mins now and it does look really good.

ah sorry went out so just saw the post.

what makes it so long...hm..

ever play axis and allies? or any game that has a HUGE map?

well, this game has that, there are tons and tons of towns/villages/castles, and traveling by horseback (no cheats) takes quite a while, it's nice though, when you travel like that, the game world is moving with you, so say you go to a town to stack up on supplies, your allies/enemies might go and raid a castle, so it has life to it at least in that sense. but as said, without the fast travel cheat (hold down control then click anywhere, and you will be at that point, SUPER HELPFUL for when someone is raiding your castle 3/4 of the map away, that you can't possibly get to to save in time.)

so that, plus if a castle has like...300+ (sometimes 500+) soldiers, the battles take FOREVER, not to mention, you have to build up/come with 300+ soldiers of your own...there is a option where you can say "send troops ahead without you" where the computer does an auto battle for you that seems to be random as shit (my farmers don't die but then i'll have an advanced cavalry guy end up dying) but it gets the battles done a bazillion times faster, if your just looking to get that castle at any cost.

also, this is extremely cheap, but it helps...say the enemy has overwhelming numbers, you can press ctrl + alt + F4 and it will "knock unconscious" all enemies on the map (reinforcements arrive once they are all knocked out, so you have to do it multiple times) but it's basically an insta win button. (I use this sometimes if one specific kingdom is EXTREMELY stubborn and stacks like 500+ into one castle right on the edge of my kingdoms border..)

don't let all this discourage you though, it is EXTREMELY fun, and at first, i would definitely say to try to be a squire/vassal for a kingdom, it helps with having allies and not having to conquer damn near everything, but later on you can leave a king and take over castles/towns and make your own kingdom, it's alot of fun! (basically shit tons of freedom to do the fuck you want.)

the combat is simple to learn, hard to master (like i mentioned, you can control all your allies with the function keys to maximize your offense/defense, like having your cavalry destroy their archers early on by swooping around the back following you, or having you scout ahead to lure their cavalry out so your infantry/archers can take them out while they chase you down) so personally i think it is alot of fun in that manner.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

150 NPC's if you don't mod anything. Since my PC can run it, i modded the battle size to 400.
So i effectively get over 400 troops on screen at a time when reinforcements come in.

You can also mod the AI party size and having lords with an average of 250+ troops.
I once tried a size 1000 Battle, the dart barrage alone crashed my pc when i ordered my 240 Crossbowman to fire a volley (I use Pike & Blade, Diplomacy + Pre Battle Order and deployments.

reminded me of this...


fuuuuuu now I wanna try those mods...sounds intense! Is there any HD mods or anything of that sort that you know of/have used?

 

[Terratina.]

And yes, make sure you're playing Warband or Fire and Sword.

check out some gameplay videos, the "original" mount and blade isn't worth it, warband is a standalone expansion that I LOVE TO DEATH, it is a gem in the rough, and is the best to date full scale medieval battles of 60+ vs 60+ i've ever played.

Warband is definitely worth it, I can't think of a single other game that offers an experience quite like it.

Seems like Warband is the one to get. Guys, do I need the original Mount and Blade to run Warband? Or is it completely stand-alone?

 

[The Madman]

Seems like Warband is the one to get. Guys, do I need the original Mount and Blade to run Warband? Or is it completely stand-alone?

Stand-alone. There is pretty much no reason to own the original Mount & Blade vs. Warband save perhaps a few exclusive mods. In general however Warband is the way to go, unless you're realllllly interested in the Lotr mod which admittedly is amazing. That aside Warband is what you're after.

 

[Terratina.]

@The Madman

Thank you. Mission: Ultra Cheap Gaming is a go then!

 

[The Madman]

@The Madman

Thank you. Mission: Ultra Cheap Gaming is a go then!

Enjoy, and if you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

[Zhukov]

Yeah, it's kinda cool. The mounted combat mechanics are fun.

Be warned though, it's very heavy on grind.