Mount & Blade: Warband – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 30]

30 August, 2019

Blaugust

The game of the day was Mount & Blade: Warband for the Steam Backlog Bonanza. I got it in 2010 Winter sale, but I can’t find any record of how much I paid for it. I probably got it in a bundle with both Mount & Blade and Warband.

Warband is an “old” game. You can always tell an “old” game because they are stretched out horizontally. They were made in the days of square monitors, before 16:9 aspect ratio became the standard. The graphics are definitely primitive by today’s standards. Honestly they looked primitive by 2010’s standards, too.

I played Mount & Blade for only 34 minutes according to Steam, so I didn’t really know what to expect in Warband. The only thing I remember about the first game is that the controls were complicated and not very standard. More of a “simulation” than a “game.” That remains true in Warband. I skipped all the tutorials and jumped right into the game, so I didn’t really know what I was doing most of the time.

There's an "overland map" for traveling from town to town.

There’s a surprising amount of old school RPG feel to the game. There’s a lot of text to read. Character creation involves a lot of obscure stats and abilities like a tabletop RPG. You get to put together a “personal backstory.” All the things that are mostly missing from modern RPGs.

To make a long story short, I didn’t really get into it. It’s the kind of game that requires a dedicated commitment to sit down and learn how everything works, either through a lot of reading or a lot of trial and error. It’s not very forgiving. But it has a lot of interesting and inventive and non-standard RPG systems, at least by today’s standards. It’s a game that I might like if I were in a different mood, but I just wasn’t feeling it on that particular day. I was tired, I had a mild headache, I just wanted to sit and watch television, to be honest.

Will I play more? I doubt it. But it’s possible. I don’t feel like I gave it a very fair shake. Maybe after I get through all the other games I want to play. Perhaps the sequels would be better suited for me.

Live Stream - Mount & Blade: Warband

Stream Production Notes: There was a lot to read, but I wasn’t particularly into it. I kept yawning and hiccuping. It wasn’t my best performance. In the end I just didn’t feel like playing anymore and got out of there. That’s how I am with games. I’ll be playing one minute, then the next minute I don’t want to play anymore and go do something else.

Previously on the Steam Backlog Bonanza: Remember Me.

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