Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

I would like to like this game. I really would. But the fact of the matter is that (for me, anyway) it really fricking sucks. And you may also come to that conclusion, for you see, there's a ton of basic features that for whatever reason, the devs didn't add. Which means, you'll have to mod the game. (I'm sorry, I'm going to vent) You want your AI allies to actually be useful in a war? mods. You want to actually make money from your workshops and caravans? mods. Would you like to be able to level your skills/your companion's skills (especially ones that result in better governors/better trading or smithing) in a way that actually works? mods. Would you like diplomacy thats actually good? A criminal side thats actually engaging? Governors that dont sit around doing nothing? Settlements you can build yourself? Or perhaps a complete overhaul that changes the setting of the game to Medieval Europe, or Japan, or Warhammer Fantasy? Again, mods. You may very well find the perfect synthesis, and all will be well, until the devs break the modded game by implementing several dozen new updates, one after another, sending you scrambling for a stable version of the game, where you will spend several frustrating hours trying to figure out why the game is still breaking even though you've downloaded all the right files, gone through the right steps, but are still crashing on launch. You may perhaps succeed in this, but eventually you will be forced to move to a higher game version, where you will repeat the process. Worse, the game never actually tells you whats wrong in the crash report. Now, if you only play vanilla Bannerlord, or you play very lightly on the modded stuff, you won't have a problem with this. (good for you!) But if you do play very heavy on the mods, know that you will have many, many problems before you are able to have a good couple of runs. If you survive the multi-hour modded frustration: good for you! If you are content with vanilla bannerlord: good for you. But I cannot recommend this game anymore to anyone, after having such enormous frustrations with modding it (or even vanilla. There's some settings you have to disable in vanilla or else it'll lag like hell, even on good PCs). Edit: I am going to give an example as to how much this game sucks. In every town and village, there are these NPCs called "notables." These are usually people of interest; merchantmen, gang leaders, and headmen, who exercise some form of power you honestly will never see within the game. These guys all have quests to give you, and are your source of money in the early game. The problem with these NPCs is that the quests they give directly impact the loyalty, prosperity, and security of the settlement they are bound to. This isn't an issue in the early game, but once you join or make a kingdom, you will often find that there are towns that are constantly rebelling. Why? Because these quests are not being fulfilled. (Also because none of the AI companions or lords assigned to govern these settlements have any of the good governor perks that increase loyalty/security. These perks are often locked away at higher levels on EVERY skill tree. Why they didn't just put them all in a Governor specific tree is beyond me, because it essentially means that governors will never be able to level to the good ones). So if you, the player, gain control of some settlements, you will never be able to address their issues, because the ai is constantly declaring war on you. The game essentially forces you to get mods through issues like this one. In this particular case, you have to download the "Governors Handle Issues" mod, which is the only way that you, and the ai, will actually be able to solve these quests, level up governors efficiently, and retain settlement loyalty. There's a number of other issues that can only be solved by mods. One of the most annoying ones is reputation. It does not matter if you are playing vanilla or have created a broken, cheat army using mods. The AI will NEVER surrender to you, regardless of how many soldiers you've slaughtered in a single game-day or how much you outnumber them. (Only time I've ever seen the ai surrender was with looters... and even then, you'll get these tiny little groups challenging your giant army to a fight to the death.)

I love this game ,I really do, but its been 4 years and still feels unfinished, at this point it's feeling bare bones still ,mods covering most of the problem but every minor update they are not working anymore, a lot of previous functions from warband missing, diplomacy is still a mess that doesnt make any sense, I dont know how you can follow a great recipe (warband) and make a bad result (bannerlord), do better TaleWorlds DO BETTER please.

As a grand strategy fan, I love games like Total War and Crusader Kings. M&B2 Bannerlords is something unique... It's a deep sandbox where you can live out your medieval fantasies any way you want. Want to be a merchant smith that just buys up any and everything? You can. Want to be a Mongol Khan that leads a horde of horse archers through the steppes? You can. Want to take your longship and murder and pillage along the coastline? You can. Or be an Arabic badass that makes Saladin look like a softie? Yes, you can. In this playthrough, I've spent a 100h+ as a Nord. I am still discovering the game, but I read on Reddit that (the Battanian king) Caladog's daughter, Corein, is a total hottie and a basass on the battlefield. I started a new playthrough, started smithing and rushed to the holy Battanian forests to find Corein and court her. She accepted. Her dad accepted also after I paid him Corein's weight in gold. I have *SO* many stories about Corein and me. While on campaign to paint Calradia our colors, she gifted me 7 healthy babies. When I was doing the usual F1 F3 at the start of random battles, I noticed there was one lonely rider going nuts to race to the front line... it was Corein. Absolutely fearless that one. When visiting towns and participating in tournaments... Like clockwork, the final round was Corein vs me. And let me tell you: she DOES NOT GO SOFT. She *wiped* the floor with me in that arena. Made me her b**ch for the world to see, and I loved every second of it. I am not embelishing or exagerating here... when I was sieging a big settlement, I had 3 parties, left and right wings take the siege towers and the ramparts, I'm leading the ram party. One person ran from the left rampart through and came to OPEN THE FRIGGIN GATES FROM THE INSIDE. You guessed it. COREIN. I have now pledged my life and allegiance to her, my queen. We have left the Nord faction and formed a new kingdom, in name of Corein. CORRATH. Long live my queen, long live Corrath! 10/10, I never thought I would find love in a videogame. Alas, her name is Corein.

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord This game feels like the medieval version of cocaine or some kind of addictive drug. Even though many of its systems are old, clunky, and sometimes downright weird, the game has its own unique charm that keeps pulling you back in. It does an amazing job of keeping players engaged and entertained for hours. The gameplay loop can be very repetitive, but once you fall into that loop, it's surprisingly hard to get out. ✩✩✩✩ ½

I am so bad at this game. I can not deny that it is a masterpiece though. Seeing castles and towns turn green is among the most rewarding feelings in gaming to me. If you buy it, don't give up after 20 hours! Do the things that seem hard. They will pay off

Enormous fumble from the devs. Singleplayer is shallow but can be fine for a time. Melee is a downgrade from the previous title. Devs released a paid DLC when the game is still unfinished. Multiplayer is dead while the previous title's community is still breathing purely on community servers 14 years after release, an option which was not available in this game for years. The added DLC made modded multiplayer servers unplayable once more.

great game, very fun. would be better if you could play co-op with a friend

Game has so much potential to be one of the best games ever. However, the way this game works is that they assume and expect modders to make a lot of content to "finish" the product. Instead of investing in adding depth in the game, they completely outsource critical content to be made by third parties. The issue with this is that they don't even offer proper modding suport and the result is an unplayable experience full of bugs because mods are not even compatible with each other. It is a complete mess. Yet, they made a DLC with content no one asked for keeping the main game empty of depth. After some hours of gameplay you realize that the inner world is quite dead: NPCs are pretty much useless, no significant quests that really impact the game, incomplete features, very limited interaction with the world and some other cumbersome mechanics. Why is it so complicated for professional devs to not be able to do the job of independent modders that do it for fun? In summary: Game has incredibly good content and incredibly bad lack of depth. They shine in some areas while perform really poor in others. No grey zone. The only way to have actual fun with the game is by using mods, and they break... all - the - time, to the point of forcing you to start over again and lose all your progress.

i love this game so much it is the only game of its kind, not even total war or paradox games have what this game has, but i can not recommend this game to anyone until it is completely abandoned by the developers. your thinking "why would the developers not working on the game be good?", because the devs actively hurt the game with every update, they fix stuff that no one was asking for and ignore the fixes the community asks for, there was a year of complete radio silence from the devs before warsails was announced and over half a year later were back to radio silence, except for the occasional update that does nothing but break mods, please do your self a favor and wait till this game is dead and the devs have moved on to whatever they work on next and the modders can fully work on making this game what it could be, i know i will never buy another taleworlds product again if this is how they treat their customers

A game so flawed at the kernel level that almost all the mods you download will be just to un-♥♥♥♥ the game itself so that i CAN be modded in the first place. Then two weeks later Taleworld will update the color of sand or something dumb and subsequently break every single mod that exists. Not worth the struggle.