This is my first attempt at a review, so any criticism or advice would be very much appreciated.
[HEADING=1]Mount and Blade: With Fire and Sword[/HEADING]
[HEADING=2]Background Info[/HEADING]
For those of you who are unaware of the games, Mount & Blade is series of Action-RPG's for the PC. Previously, there was the original Mount & Blade that was released in 2008 and a standalone expansion Mount & Blade: Warband that was released last year. It?s rather hard to explain the basic gameplay of the games, think of it as similar to Total War and other similar RTS?s with a world map and different factions but instead of having RTS gameplay, it drops you down into the battlefield and has you fight and command your troops directly. There are some strategy aspects to the games, but it?s far from being an RTS, most of the strategy comes from picking the right kind of units to put in your army and where you put them on the battlefield. The combat is somewhat realistic, as you can?t take more than a few hits before going down and melee damage is dependent on how much momentum you have going when you hit your enemy.
Behind the combat, there is a rather basic leveling system, where you can level up your character and put points into your attributes (basic stats like Strength), skills (stuff that affects other aspects of the gameplay) and proficiencies (how well you can use different kinds of weapons). You can recruit units from villages, and other places and they have their class tree where they?ll upgrade to stronger units. There is absolutely no story to be had in these games, it?s all about making your own story, and there are a lot of options on how to make money and play the game. You can be a trader, you can sell prisoners that you capture in combat, you can become a lord in another one of the games factions, and later in the game you can start your own kingdom and conquer other ones. It?s about as much of a sandbox as you can get in an RPG. Both games are rather unforgiving but you can change many aspects of the games difficulty in the options menu.
Personally, I am a huge fan of those games. They have a great modding community, and I have easily dumped 100+ hours into both of them combined. To be fair, I?ve spent most of my time on the various mods that expand the games gameplay into new settings (there?s a large variety of mods that add whole new campaigns and worlds for you to play in) but the base game is still very solid and fun.
The previous two games have had a medieval setting along with weaponry that was appropriate with the setting (swords, crossbows, bows and the like). The setting was fictional, but there wasn?t any fantasy stuff like magic. When With Fire & Sword was announced, it was a definite change in the setting. Not only is it set in historical Eastern Europe, but its storyline is also based on a novel of the same name. Now there swords and bows, but now there are muskets and grenades added as well. It seemed like an interesting change in the games mechanics, it?s less of a sandbox than before and it actually has a plot. Does it really work in the end? Well, it really depends on what you're looking for...
(Now the reason I?m calling this a review/first impression is because I haven?t experienced every major change to the game, and some parts are pretty badly bugged so I can?t continue.)
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The basic combat and such is pretty much the same as Warband. Ride around on your horse, slashing at the enemies who surround you, and order your units using different commands. Like I said earlier, it?s all very solid and fun, even if it was a bit annoying to get insta-killed by an enemy running you through with a lance (usually it?s your fault anyway). With Fire & Sword adds muskets, pistols, and grenades to the mix, and it still retains swords, halberds, lances, and bows from Warband (though they look more appropriate to the time period). It seems though that there is less of a variety in the types of weapons in this game.
One of my major complaints with the game is that many features from Warband are missing. While it is an expansion, it expands in a different direction from the original than Warband did. There?s a lot less options in this game, for example no longer can you marry a noblewoman in order to become a noble, nor can you create your own kingdom (which is the best part of Mount & Blade in my opinion). Also, the ability to play as a female character is gone (didn?t have a huge difference in Warband but having the option was nice). The reason for this is probably to accommodate the games story, so it?s understandable why it is this way. It?s just that it kinda kills the whole reason I love Mount & Blade, the fact that you aren?t really constricted by a story and you can do whatever the hell you want.
You can also now upgrade companions (special characters that you can recruit in the game that have their own skill sets, allow you to change their armor/weapons and do not die) from cities, which is a nice feature because it was always a pain to level them up through battling, when all you wanted was an improvement in a particular skill.
Now as for the much touted story? Well, I?d love to talk about it if it wasn?t currently bugged at an early stage for me. I hardly got any insight into the games plotline simply because it is impossible for me to continue. I?ve been doing what I?ve normally been doing in any M&B campaign and that?s recruit soldiers, go around selling stuff, and basically build my force, but I wish I could actually see the story. It seems to be rather interesting from the start but I can?t go any further. In fact, the game is in a very buggy state right now it seems. The skybox in the tutorial and other maps are missing for me, certain dialogue options don?t even work, and there are random flashes when going into battle. It all seems rather unpolished at this stage, and while the previous games weren?t exactly polished either this is just a bit too buggy for my tastes. (This will probably be updated when they fix this, or if they fix this)
They did expand upon multiplayer in With Fire and Sword. There?s a good amount of maps added, and there?s a new mode called ?Captain Team Deathmatch?. I have not been able to play it yet, but it?s been described as having two players fight each other with an army of AI bots to order around like you would do in the campaign mode. Personally, I was not a fan of Warband?s multiplayer, I didn?t think that they way they did it really suited the series well. The combat is fun, but there was some balancing issues, as there wasn?t a limit to how many people could play a particular unit, so there was situations where everyone would choose cavalry. It seems to be the same way, but with marksman instead. It?s still fun and I?m glad that it is one of the few multiplayer games that I have played that didn?t decide it needed a half assed leveling up system but still I feel like it has long ways to go before actually being something I?d come back to. I always sort of wished for some sort of cooperative or versus campaign mode with an actual map but it would be rather hard to implement.
Overall, I feel like Of Fire and Sword is a mixed bag. On one hand, it does try some new things for the series, such as having an actual story. However, It just seems like in order to reach that story, they have sacrificed some of the freedom that made the Mount & Blade games so replayable and fun to begin with. It?s a different experience to be sure, but it just does not really work for the series. The guns are a good addition, even with all the problems they bring. With a bit more balancing I?d say the actual combat part of the game is better than ever. I give it a decent recommendation, as it?s really cheap (15$) for the amount of content in the game. Still, if you are new to the Mount & Blade games, I?d really suggest buying Warband instead (don?t bother with the original, Warband is better in every way). Warband is about twice as much (30$) but overall it is just more replayable, and more open. That?s not even mentioning the huge modding community it has (If you?re looking for a good mod, I?d suggest getting Prophesy of Pendor. It?s really damn hard, so play a bit of Native before getting it but it?s so much fun.) Hopefully in the next Mount & Blade game, they can find a way to add a story but still keep that freedom that made the other games so great.
(I don't know why the apostrophes have turned into question marks, maybe it's because I copied this from a Word document I was working on)
[HEADING=1]Mount and Blade: With Fire and Sword[/HEADING]
[HEADING=2]Background Info[/HEADING]
For those of you who are unaware of the games, Mount & Blade is series of Action-RPG's for the PC. Previously, there was the original Mount & Blade that was released in 2008 and a standalone expansion Mount & Blade: Warband that was released last year. It?s rather hard to explain the basic gameplay of the games, think of it as similar to Total War and other similar RTS?s with a world map and different factions but instead of having RTS gameplay, it drops you down into the battlefield and has you fight and command your troops directly. There are some strategy aspects to the games, but it?s far from being an RTS, most of the strategy comes from picking the right kind of units to put in your army and where you put them on the battlefield. The combat is somewhat realistic, as you can?t take more than a few hits before going down and melee damage is dependent on how much momentum you have going when you hit your enemy.
Behind the combat, there is a rather basic leveling system, where you can level up your character and put points into your attributes (basic stats like Strength), skills (stuff that affects other aspects of the gameplay) and proficiencies (how well you can use different kinds of weapons). You can recruit units from villages, and other places and they have their class tree where they?ll upgrade to stronger units. There is absolutely no story to be had in these games, it?s all about making your own story, and there are a lot of options on how to make money and play the game. You can be a trader, you can sell prisoners that you capture in combat, you can become a lord in another one of the games factions, and later in the game you can start your own kingdom and conquer other ones. It?s about as much of a sandbox as you can get in an RPG. Both games are rather unforgiving but you can change many aspects of the games difficulty in the options menu.
Personally, I am a huge fan of those games. They have a great modding community, and I have easily dumped 100+ hours into both of them combined. To be fair, I?ve spent most of my time on the various mods that expand the games gameplay into new settings (there?s a large variety of mods that add whole new campaigns and worlds for you to play in) but the base game is still very solid and fun.
The previous two games have had a medieval setting along with weaponry that was appropriate with the setting (swords, crossbows, bows and the like). The setting was fictional, but there wasn?t any fantasy stuff like magic. When With Fire & Sword was announced, it was a definite change in the setting. Not only is it set in historical Eastern Europe, but its storyline is also based on a novel of the same name. Now there swords and bows, but now there are muskets and grenades added as well. It seemed like an interesting change in the games mechanics, it?s less of a sandbox than before and it actually has a plot. Does it really work in the end? Well, it really depends on what you're looking for...
(Now the reason I?m calling this a review/first impression is because I haven?t experienced every major change to the game, and some parts are pretty badly bugged so I can?t continue.)
============================================================================================
The basic combat and such is pretty much the same as Warband. Ride around on your horse, slashing at the enemies who surround you, and order your units using different commands. Like I said earlier, it?s all very solid and fun, even if it was a bit annoying to get insta-killed by an enemy running you through with a lance (usually it?s your fault anyway). With Fire & Sword adds muskets, pistols, and grenades to the mix, and it still retains swords, halberds, lances, and bows from Warband (though they look more appropriate to the time period). It seems though that there is less of a variety in the types of weapons in this game.
The guns themselves make a huge difference in combat tactics in this game. They can easily take down you, or any other unit in one direct hit, even with a decent amount of armor. To make up for that, they have a very long reload time and are not as accurate as bows. Unfortunately, bows become less useful because of this, because even though you can shoot repeatedly without having to reload every shot, the damage output of the guns is simply too powerful (seriously, it downs most units in a direct hit easily). You can?t really fault the game for being realistic when it comes to the muskets and such but regardless it seems like it?s pretty much always preferable to at the very least keep a pistol as a sidearm instead of another ranged weapon. Your units will drop and die a lot faster, which gets rather annoying as even the most basic infantry units in this game are a lot more expensive than the ones in Warband. Still, it does make combat more tense and you really have maneuver yourself in order to dodge the crossfire. It?s better than in Warband where you could pretty much just shrug off most arrow fire as long as you had a decent shield and a heavy horse. It?s more frustrating than Warband?s combat, but at the same time winning battles feels more rewarding. Regardless of any complaints I have balance wise, I have to say that downing an enemy with a single shot of your gun is incredibly satisfying.
The changes take some getting used to, but they do make the combat more risky and fun.
One of my major complaints with the game is that many features from Warband are missing. While it is an expansion, it expands in a different direction from the original than Warband did. There?s a lot less options in this game, for example no longer can you marry a noblewoman in order to become a noble, nor can you create your own kingdom (which is the best part of Mount & Blade in my opinion). Also, the ability to play as a female character is gone (didn?t have a huge difference in Warband but having the option was nice). The reason for this is probably to accommodate the games story, so it?s understandable why it is this way. It?s just that it kinda kills the whole reason I love Mount & Blade, the fact that you aren?t really constricted by a story and you can do whatever the hell you want.
I don?t want to give the impression that they only removed features from the game, because they did add some useful stuff. Instead of recruiting random people from different villages, you can now recruit mercenaries in mercenary camps. There about 5 camps in the game, each one for the major different factions in the game, and there is an endless supply coming from each of them. What is a really nice feature is being able to upgrade the mercenaries? specific equipment which costs a ton of money but any other mercenary you recruit of that type at that camp with have that bonus. For example, you can give your marksman muskets instead of bows if you like. The problem is though, that the game does not explain this feature well to you, and soon you find out that it also makes the price of recruiting them shoot up as well. There are also far too few camps in the game, so when you have to trek back to replace a lost unit of that particular type, it?s a pain.
The game map is pretty huge (this is about a third of it, maybe less) but it's pretty bland and samey, at least in comparison to Warband. There's no snowy or desert areas on map and it's relatively flat.
You can also now upgrade companions (special characters that you can recruit in the game that have their own skill sets, allow you to change their armor/weapons and do not die) from cities, which is a nice feature because it was always a pain to level them up through battling, when all you wanted was an improvement in a particular skill.
Now as for the much touted story? Well, I?d love to talk about it if it wasn?t currently bugged at an early stage for me. I hardly got any insight into the games plotline simply because it is impossible for me to continue. I?ve been doing what I?ve normally been doing in any M&B campaign and that?s recruit soldiers, go around selling stuff, and basically build my force, but I wish I could actually see the story. It seems to be rather interesting from the start but I can?t go any further. In fact, the game is in a very buggy state right now it seems. The skybox in the tutorial and other maps are missing for me, certain dialogue options don?t even work, and there are random flashes when going into battle. It all seems rather unpolished at this stage, and while the previous games weren?t exactly polished either this is just a bit too buggy for my tastes. (This will probably be updated when they fix this, or if they fix this)
The visuals for the Mount & Blade series have always been rather mediocre but in exchange for that you have huge battles with hundreds of units with minimal lag. I haven?t noticed many improvements in this game over Warband (at least in comparison to Warband which was a whole engine change) The guns aren?t very detailed which is a disappointment but It?s still functional. Some of the locations look nice, while others look awful. The cities are now rather large and open, but some of the interiors look awful (particularly the tavern at Moscow). Most of the cities blend together which isn?t anything new to the series, but some cities have some landmarks (there?s the Kremlin at Moscow, though it looks bad).
Some areas of the game look pretty good...
The basics of Warband's multiplayer are still here. There's the basic deathmatch modes you can find in other mutliplayer games, but there's a good variety of modes. The siege mode has a team defending a castle while the other tries to take it from them, while there's a mode called conquest, which basically has players trying to take specific points on a map and a few other modes. It plays out like the battles in the campaign, but there's a neat mechanic that lets you buy equipment at the beginning of battle, and the better you do during the fight, the better armor and weapons you can buy (kind of like Counter Strike). There is no persistence though, no leveling your character in multiplayer nor is there a campaign map.
...and others just look downright awful.
They did expand upon multiplayer in With Fire and Sword. There?s a good amount of maps added, and there?s a new mode called ?Captain Team Deathmatch?. I have not been able to play it yet, but it?s been described as having two players fight each other with an army of AI bots to order around like you would do in the campaign mode. Personally, I was not a fan of Warband?s multiplayer, I didn?t think that they way they did it really suited the series well. The combat is fun, but there was some balancing issues, as there wasn?t a limit to how many people could play a particular unit, so there was situations where everyone would choose cavalry. It seems to be the same way, but with marksman instead. It?s still fun and I?m glad that it is one of the few multiplayer games that I have played that didn?t decide it needed a half assed leveling up system but still I feel like it has long ways to go before actually being something I?d come back to. I always sort of wished for some sort of cooperative or versus campaign mode with an actual map but it would be rather hard to implement.
Regardless of my criticism multiplayer can be pretty fun.
Overall, I feel like Of Fire and Sword is a mixed bag. On one hand, it does try some new things for the series, such as having an actual story. However, It just seems like in order to reach that story, they have sacrificed some of the freedom that made the Mount & Blade games so replayable and fun to begin with. It?s a different experience to be sure, but it just does not really work for the series. The guns are a good addition, even with all the problems they bring. With a bit more balancing I?d say the actual combat part of the game is better than ever. I give it a decent recommendation, as it?s really cheap (15$) for the amount of content in the game. Still, if you are new to the Mount & Blade games, I?d really suggest buying Warband instead (don?t bother with the original, Warband is better in every way). Warband is about twice as much (30$) but overall it is just more replayable, and more open. That?s not even mentioning the huge modding community it has (If you?re looking for a good mod, I?d suggest getting Prophesy of Pendor. It?s really damn hard, so play a bit of Native before getting it but it?s so much fun.) Hopefully in the next Mount & Blade game, they can find a way to add a story but still keep that freedom that made the other games so great.
(I don't know why the apostrophes have turned into question marks, maybe it's because I copied this from a Word document I was working on)
