We disassemble a new simulator of a medieval warrior.
What is Mount & Blade
For those who have not played or managed to forget, let’s say a few words about the original. The first part of the action-RPG Mount & Blade and its add-ons have gathered an army of fans. A medieval setting without fantasy impurities gave the player almost unlimited freedom. There was no plot at all: you were simply thrown into the open world, where you had to invent entertainments yourself. You could trade, traveling through the numerous cities of Calradia, you could build a career as a warrior or a mercenary. At the same time, one could take part in large-scale battles as well as send an army to the showdown, observing from the side. A player could even become a king, there would be a desire.
The battle for the territory was between 6 factions: Swadia, Wegirs, Nords, Rodoks, Sarranid Sultanate and Hergigit Khanate. To join one of them or go to war at all at once, the player decided. Another fat plus: when creating states and armies, Turkish developers relied on real prototypes from world history. For example, Swadia has similarities with medieval Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, and the Nords – with the Vikings and Vikings. It was possible to collect and pump over the army in different ways: the tree of unit development for each faction has its own.
Mododes deserve special mention: that only on the open spaces of the forums they did not upload. Want to add a pinch of fantasy to the game? Please, such a mod is available, and not one. Not enough realism? Correctable. For the most sophisticated, there are even mods that turn Calradia into the worlds of Naruto and Dragon Ball Z. Thanks to the infinitely refreshing game, the modders in Mount & Blade returned again and again, and the developers have repeatedly expressed their gratitude to them. In general, the game received good marks, albeit with reservations: the game was scolded for outdated graphics, even by the standards of two thousandths, but praised for the gameplay and realistic combat system.
With such a grafon, only fantasy helped to immerse yourself in the game.
Pristine Calradia
The events of the second part throw us 200 years ago in relation to the original game. There is still no Swadia, no Wegirs, no Rodoks. But the fierce battle for the territory was still underway. The once mighty Calradian Empire broke up into the North, South and West. The emperor passed away, did not leave an heir, and the division started. Aristocrats led the North, the South the wife of the deceased ruler, and the West the hero of the war, Garios. While they were deciding who should rule, freedom-loving peoples squeezed out part of the land to themselves under the guise. As a result, five independent fractions were formed.
Land map
Who is who
Vlandia is the forerunner of the familiar svads and tribes from previous games. The Wlandians, mercenaries and adventurers, originally guarded the borders of the Empire. Their heavy cavalry was not equal, so the Calradians for a long time kept them in silver. Until at some point they thought: maybe we should keep silver for ourselves, and give titles and land to mercenaries? Economically the same! Yes, that’s just not very far-sighted: the Wlandians quickly settled on the lands and began to build fortresses, marry and raise cattle. As a result, the Imperials lost the capital and western territories.
Sturgia – that was the name of the kingdom of the Wegirs at that time. The harsh forest people, led by the hard-hearted Prince Raganwad, rose on the riches of their native land. Northern forests attracted dealers in expensive furs, and with the expansion of the Empire to the east, large cities grew on the banks of the rivers. The elders of the tribe entered into profitable alliances, and they hired warriors for the proceeds of the trade. The scattering of separate principalities eventually united under a common banner and began to claim new possessions. Like the Nords from Mount & Blade, these guys are the best wielders of axes and shields. In foot battles are indispensable.
Aserai are the distant ancestors of the Sarranid Sultanate. When the Empire began to fall apart, the hermits, who were always warring among themselves, united. Under the leadership of Banu Ulyan, the head of the richest clan, the Bedouins gained strength. No one in the game manages a horse so well: there is even a belief that aceri are born right in the saddle. Still, cross such distances in the desert!
The Kuzaites are the forerunners of the Hergit Khanate. The steppe dancers, for a long time dancing to the golden tune of the Calradians, once thought better of it. Several clans united in a confederation and attacked unsuspecting imperials. The nomads demolished the legionnaires, seized the trading cities and declared themselves a kaganate. It is difficult to counterbalance their equestrian archers, and they are actively using it.
And finally, Battania. The Battanians are unsurpassed archers. They like to attack from an ambush and most of all appreciate cunning and a dodgy mind. Therefore, most often they can run into them in the forest and foggy landscapes of northwestern Calradia. We spent the lion’s share of time with these guys, but more on that later.
One hundred percent your hero
Now that we’ve figured out the main characters, let’s talk about the game itself. The genre is unchanged here: it’s still the same action RPG with elements of a strategy. At the beginning, we are again offered to create our own hero and are given a flexible character editor, in which the craftsmen have already managed to make the witcher Geralt, Keanu Reeves and Igor Nikolaev. We also need to choose a hero from six available factions. This will give certain permanent buffs: for example, creating a caravan to the Aserai people will be cheaper, and the Kuzaites will move around the map 10% faster.
Next, we choose the background of the character. We, as in the first part, are asked who our parents were, what worked well in childhood, what we were fond of and how we solved problems. The answers to these questions determine the initial characteristics of the hero, skills and speed of pumping. Hunted in adolescence a dangerous beast? You will learn shooting faster. Show attention to detail? Get an extra point to control.
Choose your destiny!
In total, Bannerlord has six characteristics: strength, control, stamina, cunning, sociality and mind. Each is responsible for the development of certain skills. Strength – for the possession of melee weapons, control – for missile and rifle. Endurance – for blacksmithing, athletics and horseback riding, trick – for fraud, tactics and intelligence. Sociality is responsible for trade, charm and leadership, and the mind is responsible for management, engineering and medical knowledge.
Each of the skills has five cells. The more you fill, the faster you download. Some cells are filled depending on your answers at the beginning. With the receipt of new levels, we are given points that can be scattered at our discretion. Skills, by the way, are pumped, as in Skyrim: if you want a one-handed weapon, fight it. Upon reaching a certain level, you can choose useful perks like reducing damage from enemies or increasing movement speed.
It looks complicated, but actually easy
Learning – shine
After we have completed the creation of the character, we are introduced to the brother. Yes, we do not have parents, but there is a brother who becomes our guide in this extremely unfriendly world. First of all, he offers to undergo training. At the training ground, you can get acquainted with melee weapons, as well as understand the ballistics of small and missile.
The battle moved to the second part without changes: you need to clamp the left mouse button and move it in the direction from which you want to strike. With a block similarly, only the mouse button is already right. If you have not played Mount & Blade before, you will hate this system for the first time, but you will probably get used to it and love it. It really feels alive.
Hard to learn, easy to fight
Yes, the second part introduces the newcomers to the rules in a much friendlier manner, but it doesn’t last long by the handle. We will be shown how to hire warriors, where to buy food, in a nutshell we will be introduced to the battle system, and then thrown out into a huge open world. Here already do what you want, and most importantly, as you want. If you want, attack the caravans, if you want, protect them. At the same time, they will be merciless in both cases. But it becomes especially difficult when the game begins to combine elements of strategy and action-RPG.
Here you have a detachment of 4-5 newly hired recruits. A crowd of bandits is running at you, and you have to pick them yourself somehow, and at the same time, use the F1, F2 and F3 buttons to open the army command menu and give orders. I didn’t give it up – they didn’t enter the battle, but simply stood by. However, we never managed to lose completely: if the detachment was defeated, you find yourself in captivity and roam with the offenders to escape before the first opportunity.
“Away”
Plot? What is the plot? What for?
There is a plot in the game. It’s kind of like that. But, in general, in 30 hours he led to one thing: choose, restore greatness to the Empire or burn everything to hell. At the end of the training, you find part of an ancient artifact that you need to ask ten noble lords of different fractions. This makes you travel all over Calradia, to learn the customs and customs of each people.
And this is a cool idea, only the world around is not static. Trade caravans scurry from town to town, cities conquer and conquer back. Lords do not wait for you at a certain point, you have to naturally track them. It’s good that in the encyclopedia you can view information about the heroes: in addition to information about the clan and the size of the army, there is infa in the corner where it was last seen. The location can be tracked and fixed on the map, but this does not facilitate the situation.
Not today
As a result, when you see that the lord you need was last seen on the other end of the map, you just wave your hand at this matter. You can, for example, earn some dinars and collect a decent army. The initial money for this is not enough, so you have to spin. A great way to raise money at the initial stage is to play in imperial taverns.
In every big city there is a drinking establishment, and a gambler is sitting in it, ready to enrich you for a tidy sum. It is only necessary to furnish it. Each faction has its own games: somewhere it’s classic checkers, somewhere it’s a rearrangement of pawns, but the easiest way to farm gold is with the Imperials. They need to either, playing as black, surround the king from two sides, or, for white, reach them to the end of the board. Playing from defense and moving pawns back and forth, it is very easy to win: out of over 40 games, we have not lost a single one. However, you can only win once: the NPCs in the tavern do not crave revenge. Anyway, for a while.
Well, you can increase your earnings in the arena. Unless, of course, dexterity is enough. There are also arenas in every big castle, and what’s most pleasant – you can bet on your victory, which, however, is not so easy to get. All fight in the same conditions, with basic weapons. Armor, perhaps, remains its own. There are many modes of fights: you can be divided into teams by colors, they can be given a crossbow and forced to fight “each for himself”, or they can be mounted on horseback and armed with a spear in a one-on-one battle. In this case, you can face in a fair fight even with the leader of the faction, if he is in this castle and decided to participate. And for the first place they always give some valuable prize. A sword, horse, helmet or something else useful. So at first, the scheme of visiting the city looked like this: we won a bit in the tavern, and immediately to the arena.
Join the clan! We have cookies!
Before heading for free bread, we have to choose the name of our clan, its colors and logo. Initially, only we and the brother are in the clan, but with time the situation changes. In the same taverns you can find future companions. They will tell you their story, and then you decide if you want to hire one. If everything is OK – welcome. Companions can be delegated and tasks. Give them some warriors, and after a few days they return with the completed task.
The clan has a reputation and a progress bar. The higher the level, the more you can hire companions and recruits in the army. This scale is pumped up for an unrealistic long time: in 30 hours we did not reach it even to the third level. Reputation points are dripping for reprisals against bandits and completing side quests, of which there are enough in the game. They only give points to indecentness a little: one at a time, at best, two. And in order to pump the clan to the third level, you need 350. By the way, there is one more reason to play in the arena: they give you three points for victory.
Well, as much as you can …
Remember how they scolded the original Mount & Blade for the same type of quest? So, in this TaleWorlds remained true to itself. We firmly decided that we want to join the Battanians – their archers are very cool. And in small settlements on their territory, over and over again they gave us the same quest: to return to the father the missing daughter. Several times, the daughters even had the same name. They are always in the same part of the settlement, the dialogs are always the same. The only reason we completed more than ten of these was that they paid well.
And this is far from the only example: deal with thieves, collect such and such units and deliver them to the garrison, escort the caravan, and clean up the bandits’ shelter. And so in a circle to build a reputation. And up to the third level of the clan, your army is limited to 75 soldiers, which makes it impossible to siege the fortress or full-scale battles.
However, we still managed to participate in a couple of powerful 200/200 batches. When we swore allegiance to Kaladog, the leader of the Battanians, it became possible to unite our army with the Union. And here, from the events that happened, the spirit took its breath: a cloud of enemies breaks into a cloud of allies, the Kaladog gives orders … It was just great, the spirit of war oozed through the monitor. However, what do you think? Less than a couple of days of playing time, as our faction made peace with everyone. That’s it, the end of the holiday. And, yes, in the game you can create your own independent faction, but there is a condition: clan level 3.
This is a batch! Too bad for once
Early access and its jokes
As for bugs and optimization, the game has some problems. Not critical, but there is. If you decide to collect a caravan and send a trusted vassal with it, you can say goodbye to it. He will ride on the map endlessly, and if you catch him, he will not even recognize you. Of course, he will bring money, but one experienced fighter will be less.
There is also a joke with quests where you must take the son of the village elder to repentance in another village. By the way, they are repeated almost more often than quests with a daughter. You can take this task, the son will even join your squad. But only upon arrival at the destination, he will not appear to talk, no matter what you do. It turns out that this is solvable: you must either store one free slot for a companion, or drive them out, and then again hire one of the existing ones. That’s just it will cost already with all body kits 10, or even 20 times more expensive.
One of the story quests is generally impossible to complete. He periodically appears, he has progress, then disappears. Some time later it reappears, and so on in a circle. Places in the cities sag texture, but these are trifles.
Got on their feet
By 30 o’clock the game is turned upside down. You are no longer afraid of bandits, they run in fear at the approach of your powerful army. There are no problems with gold: manufactories were bought for the dinars earned in the locks, and money is poured into your pocket, even if you are not fighting with anyone. But it is important to follow in the “Clan” tab so that the company is profitable. You can choose from anything from a forge to a brewery. The latter, by the way, in peacetime brings good money. What can not be said about our first purchase – the winery. Fortunately, for an additional 2,000 dinars, the manufactory can be redesigned into something else. For example, in another brewery.
When enough money has accumulated, you can better buy armor and weapons for yourself and your companions, and a worthy army to collect. Units can be bought in settlements and large castles, but no one will immediately sell good ones to you – please improve relations first. If you correctly manage your army, enter into more or less equal battles, your units gain experience and can be developed. As in the first part, every soldier has a leveling tree from the most ordinary militias to quite powerful elite warriors. For example, we have a part of the imperial archers hired in the first hours of the game, still in the detachment, but already pumped to the limit.
In a truce, money accumulates quickly: in skirmishes with bandits, the army practically does not die, daily income easily covers the costs of its maintenance. You begin to get bored, but there is a plan: now we’ll finish the clan’s level to 3, increase the army to 100 people and begin to start wars. Then we’ll have fun.
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord определенно сохраняет традиции серии. Картинка стала заметно лучше, но до топовой все же не дотягивает. Пусть в раннем доступе и не всё гладко, проработанный огромный открытый мир опьяняет. Возможностей в нем море, и за 30 часов ещё многое не удалось реализовать. Посмотрим, что будет в финальной версии.
