Mount&Blade

[Cyclotron]

Yes, sorry, I should point that out - the update for .806 are reachable through the website, not the auto-update on the program. The .8x build is quite new and hasn't been given the status of a "formal" update yet, though it appears to be just as stable.

For those of you who want to run mods, unfortunately all are still only playable on .75x versions - you can wait for them to update the mods, or you can download a second M&B (it's a pretty small download, so that's definitely possible).

[Tuberski]

Their "News" page is seriously out of date. Itomly shows up to .750.

That is where I have been going to check for updates.

ACK!

[El_Cid]

Well i was playing it(the free demo) all yesterday. Never have i had such fun being a slave trader(even more fun than in Elite!), even if it was the only way i found to make decent money from the start.

The fps melee combat is the best i've ever played, on foot or on horse back(which actualy feels like real rideing - quite impressive on a game!). Its easy to pick up but hard to master, and before my level 6 cap had been reached i knew i had a lot of room for improvement. Blocking is key, and something i haven't mastered yet. So great combat.

The other stuff , the game content/rpg side of the game looks very promising - it still looks very bare, but with a pretty large world to populate with npc's and quests etc you can see the bones of the game will easily support such fleshing out.

Tradeing/economy etc actualy works much nicer than in games like Morrowind - ok so that means it isnt broken! Its quite tough to make enough money from game start to be able to do much buying and selling - so early progression has a nice slow pace to it, it's not a case of finding one uber item and making your million dinars right away.

Luckily with such a small flow of cash you dont have much required expense(1 dinar for a nights stay in an inn is about it) - so even on the demo you can amass enough money to get better horses and weapons before the level 6 limit.

I would imagine what this game would need to really set it up as an all time classic would be that fleshing out of the game world. That is a pretty hard task for a small dev, but maybe with community help that can be more easily realised?

Overall i enjoyed it much more than Oblivion(ok so i was pretty dissapointed in Oblivion!), but if the content keeps coming i could easily see this game offering a challange to Morrowind/NWN etc as an essential rpg game to own. I really had a great time with it, lots of fun and another game to add on my pretty short list for buying.

[Cyclotron]

The developers have stated that for now they are more interested in building a functional and interesting engine for the game, focusing on combat, economy, and character development, and will add more of the "rpg content" when the game is nearer to completion. If you want more rpg-esque experiences now, I recommend getting .751 and installing some mods - there are quite a few with very developed quest-driven storylines, and a few (like the Last Days, mentioned above) where you can even win or lose the game depending on your actions.

[El_Cid]

Originally posted by Cyclotron
The developers have stated that for now they are more interested in building a functional and interesting engine for the game, focusing on combat, economy, and character development, and will add more of the "rpg content" when the game is nearer to completion...........

I know i could go post some stuff over in their forum, and if i find more time i may well do.
Still the combat is pretty good as is, i've not played an fps/third person melee combat game that got it as 'right' as it is now(in version .750 - i think thats their main download for the demo?, might be .751 as you say below?). So that seems near complete.

Economy needs attention to the extent that it needs to be carefull not to become a 'grind' to make money - slow progress is good, but more variation in the trade system would be nice. for example even on the most profitable trade route(taking a good to trade in a town that tells you they really need that good and pay well for it) you only make about 10 dinar per item profit, not alot in context of the price of goods(a tough leather gauntlet = 500 dinar etc).

What would be a nice 'bonus' for the player, especialy in the warring province the game plays in, would be to have the odd chance of a crisis of a lack of a certain good(tie it into the war?) - and much inflated prices to match. Just a small window of opportunity then back to standard model as is now. Just some variation to make it more interesting.

char development seems ok - my progress to level 6 did seem quite quick though(around 1hour - 2hours) - especialy taken in context of my one-handed weapon skill ending up at around 85 at this point(is 100 max?). Maybe this is due to the demo in part - dont give the potential customer too much etc?

As is, the game can get pretty generic(and a little dull) without this 'added content' they will put in later. I hope they dont make the mistake of underestimating how much they need the rpg/quest/content side as well as the excellent combat model - this game needs both to become a classic.

And that extra content is going to take alot of work - maybe more than has been done already if they want to make a really decent believable world that can sit shoulder to shoulder with MW for example.

..........If you want more rpg-esque experiences now, I recommend getting .751 and installing some mods - there are quite a few with very developed quest-driven storylines, and a few (like the Last Days, mentioned above) where you can even win or lose the game depending on your actions.

The mods sound good - can you do those on the demo? or do you need the full unlocked game?

[Cyclotron]

Trading goods is only valuable for a while; after that and slavery become mediocre, the main way of making money is raiding merchant caravans by claiming allegiance to one side. You can literally make a thousand denars per run if you can take a particularly large caravan, but you need a pretty good force to do it - something you can't really accomplish in 6 levels. Merchant missions are also good for higher levels; escorting caravans and delivering supplies net you more cash than just trading, and other quests to deal with bandits and ransom people are also moneymakers (the ransom quests especially usually net you 500 or so, if you decide to slay all the bandits and keep both the ransom and the reward ). I don't think you get merchant quests much in the lower levels; you need to do some caravan escorting before they give you the bandit and ransom quests, and to escort you need a good sized party (even if it's all peasants).

Levels take longer and longer to achieve as you go up; up to 10 or so is fairly fast, but it takes quite a while to go from 20 to 21, for example. Weapon skill may not actually have a limit; if you talk to some of the arena players at the Zendar tavern, they have weapon skills upwards of 300. That's why Dranton and Kradus are so terribly powerful in the arena. I find 100 to be a "decent" skill level; with a bow, you pretty much need at least 150 before it's much good, but when you get higher (200 or so) bows are far and away game winners.

I bought the game before I downloaded any of the mods (actually, before the mods even existed) so I can't answer your last question. You could try it out, I suppose, but I don't think you'd get to do much in the mods before level 6. In the Last Days, for instance, the Great War only starts when you reach around level 8-10.

Mod directory on Talewords
M&B File Repository

[Space05us]

I was going to post a thread about this most excellent game, but since Cyclotron's thread already exists and says more than I could I figured I would just bump it. Hopefully it will catch someone new.

note: No, DrSpike, it's isn't "complete" yet, but still damn fun!

[DrSpike]

Is it compl.........oh wait, move on, nothing to see here.

[Skanky Burns]

Is WoW complete yet?

[El_Cid]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Is it compl.........oh wait, move on, nothing to see here.

yes...but this really is the droid you are looking for - so don't be a storm trooper about it I would say.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
Is WoW complete yet?

Would you care to elaborate on why that is at all relevant?

[Skanky Burns]

I was just wondering if your strange preoccupation with games having reached a static state extended beyond this thread.

[DrSpike]

It's not so much whether M&B has reached a static state, more whether it has reached a state decent enough for me to look at yet.

[Space05us]

It's been decent enough to look at since two years ago when this thread was first created.

[DrSpike]

I have high standards.