Arkon wrote:I just got Mount and Blade. It's discounted on GOG. I played it a bit and enjoy the power of a mounted knight a lot. What do you think about representation of weapons and armour in this game?
It's not spot on accurate, especially in the sense that all the armor is pretty limited and it's still basically about hit points... but I think on the 'meta' level it works really nicely. You really see the value of different types of weapons systems: spears, axes, the couched lance, the javelin and other thrown weapons (even rocks), the mounted archer ... I think I've learned a lot more about the difference between cavalry warfare and individual combat.
The different nations have different things they are good at - the Swadians have good heavy cavalry, the Kergits have the excellent Mongol style horse archers (and pretty good heavy cavalry too) the Rhodoks have good defensive infantry and superb crossbow archers, and the Nords have the really good offensive heavy infantry. It gives you a cool sense of the interplay between these different types of weapons, and even though it's kind of a crude abstraction, it's a quantum leap past anything else I've played with in that sense.
In particular I love how their simple, intuitive, but difficult to master system brings some of the weapons to light: I like how you can line up your target with a bow as you aim, and it helps a lot for a second, then gets worse as you hold the weapon too long - but the crossbow doesn't have this problem. I like how you can use the lance couched or ride around and try to stab, how you can try to cut from your horse but your horse is vulnerable and infantry can crowd around you. I love how effective the shields are (though it can be annoying when you are trying to get somebody!)
They could take it further but I think it's a 'great leap' past every other online type video game I've played, and beyond most tabletop RPG's. It kind of renewed my interest in game design, I think there will be some new things coming out in the codex as a result.
Get Warband by the way, it's a bit better than the original one, more social elements, more interesting combat, and you get a 5th country to deal with.
G