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A new version of the hilariously amusing Mount and Blade game has been released. Now, I'm a bit of a gamer, and I've got all kinds of games, new games... old games... but M&B is the most cutting-edge game I've played since the heady days of shader 1.2. If you don't have the very newest DX9c(oct) and the latest nvidia drivers, it doesn't work. How awesome is that?

And it's now even more 'better than Oblivion but made by a crazy Turkish dude': visible weapons on all models (ie, swords at waist, arrows on back etc), animated bows and bowstrings, and a much higher standard of polish on interface screens, the HUD (no more giant numbers) and the towns and battlefields themselves. M&B, let's face it, FTW.

This has been a 'Ha ha - Stark *doesn't* hate everything and *didn't* have a hooker in his trailer last night' post.

I would chime in to support Mount and Blade here and say Stark is right, but the new update is out apparantly so there's no time to sleep, let alone talk to you lot.

Since I can edit in G&C, I'm going to say 'how sweet does this look' and 'ten freaking dollars' and add screenies as I find them. The battles look retardedly awesome now, with full shaders and modelled grass etc.

EDIT - Bah, my capture thingy is being lame and stupid. Try it for yerselves, from here.

Stark wrote:A new version of the hilariously amusing Mount and Blade game has been released. Now, I'm a bit of a gamer, and I've got all kinds of games, new games... old games... but M&B is the most cutting-edge game I've played since the heady days of shader 1.2. If you don't have the very newest DX9c(oct) and the latest nvidia drivers, it doesn't work. How awesome is that?

Wait, this is sarcasm right?

Stark wrote:Since I can edit in G&C, I'm going to say 'how sweet does this look' and 'ten freaking dollars' and add screenies as I find them. The battles look retardedly awesome now, with full shaders and modelled grass etc.

The pictures up on the Mount and Blade site don't really strike me as fancy high quality graphics, at least compared to say, Splinter Cell Double Agent, which is the only game I know offhand which uses/requires fancy SM3 dealies.

People keep telling me to try this game, maybe I should...?

No, it is not sarcasm. It will not work if you don't have the newest DX9c. HA! Indy games strike again.

And the shots on the site aren't .8 shots... and .8 looks way better. Download it already you philistine! CHOP PEOPLE UP FROM HORSEBACK. Throw axes at their heads! Run them down like dogs! Command squadrons of cavalry!

Oh and there's no crap story or npc levelling system or anything. Just chop people up until you get bored, then load a mod and chop THOSE people up until you get bored. HUZZAH! Thanks to shaders, Dark Age of Calradia will be able to apply it's 'grim and grey' tone to the fullscreen, and it will be awesome.

I guess I'll give 'er a shot once I get back from the folks. My poor little laptop only has a dx8.1 gpu.

Oh, 0.800 is buggy anyway. In a few days there'll be 0.801, and everything will be fine again. Meanwhile, back to stabbing.

For people who are dying to try 0.8, download the newest, October release of DirectX and update your video card drivers where possible. Turn off all anti-aliasing and play with resolutions and removing shaders because those seem to kill it.

Or just download 0.751 and kick back a few days while 0.8 gets its bugs sorted out. I know I'll be playing The Last Days, which is such a good mod I feel like I paid for it and got M&B as an extra for free rather than the other way around. Forth, my uruk-hai meatshields. Tonight we feast on manflesh!

(Best thing ever in TLD is that you can butcher prisoners as a Mordor (and presumably Isengardian) character and feed human meat to your troops. Now not only do I have a use for prisoners, I also will never have to buy food again. ^_^)

So tell me Stark, exactly what sort of play experience could a gamer expect from Mount & Blade?

You travel a world map, visiting cities and encountering parties of enemies and friends! You can fight in the arena for phat lewt, or you can lead npc characters and troops into small scale battles! There's an economic engine allowing you to escort convoys and find your own profitable trade routes! You can run in terror from 80+ groups of enemy soldiers, then attack them with nearby friendly forces! You will fight in deserts, plains, forests and frozen waste! You will shoot, stab and throw deadly weapons into people's heads! You will calmly stand with crossbow raised as a knight charges at you, only to clack him in the face moments before he hits your, sending him flying over your head!

Native is very shallow (no story to speak of, no crafting, etc) but mods add anything you might want, from Napoleonic wars to Japanese-themed battles to a huge arena expansion, full crafting of everything in the game and the Last Days, a huge LOTR-based mod where you fight for any of the five teams and take them to victoly!

EDIT - Holy crap, how could I forget the HORSES! The game supports full mounted combat, from couched lances to deadly sabre drivebys. Experience the hilarity of riding away from melee-armed bandits while shooting them in the face! Feel the terror as someone blindsides you on the left, where your bow cannot bear! Tremble as you charge archers, your shield up around your face, waiting for the deadly thwack of an arrow into your mortal coil! Laugh after a battle as your shield and horse are pincushions with arrows sticking out all over the place!

EDIT2 - there is a problem with the environment shadows option (buildings casting shadows), and once that's turned off version 0.800 is very stable.

I'm into that, and I'll nudge it in a couple of my friend's directions. There's one expecially who would love it.

My report is TLD based since I played that recently, but expect similar in Mount and Blade.

Memories of recent cool shit that you can expect to see in a mount and blade battle:

Mordor Vs Gondor: Jumping while overhead swinging from what the martial arts enthusiast in me wants to call Jodan position (a very stupid but badass looking way to do it, basically) and bringing the sword down on a Gondorian knight, slicing the knight, killing him, and continuing into his wounded horse, killing that too.

Gondor Vs Dunland: Furiously blocking the swings of a pair of Dunlandish infantry with a hand-and-a-half sword as a gondorian infantry commander. Overmatched, mobbed by three men as another joins them, I retreat, smacking spears and blades out of the way, suffering heavy wounds, until I see a flash of silver behind me- my Heavy Infantry finally come to my rescue.

Gondor Vs Harad: Holding position in the river, Gondorian troops attempt to bog down and mob Variag Kataphraktoi. The Variags ride straight through. Drawing my shortbow, I place an arrow into one's head, which hardly fases it. Through the cloudless sky I can see the approaching Haradrim by moonlight. Drawing my sword, I charge the enemy heavy cavalryman bearing down on me and my men- they have to go soon or we won't be in any shape to recieve the infantry charge.

Mordor Vs Gondor: Slashing at the side of enemy cavalry as they rush through my precious orkish infantry mob, furiously trying to dodge swords as they flash towards me from superior armed and armored knights of gondor. Hewing at the horses, I manage to dismount one forcibly. He flies off his dead horse into the center of the mob, where they mob him and stab the poor man to death without a single blow in reply. Lesson learned? Heavily armored feudal knight is no match for 20 times his weight in poorly armed orks attempting to weigh him down.
Unfortunately, the next knight I catch charging on a course that puts it in my blade's way is a Knight of Dol Amroth, who manages to bat me aside with his lance without a single glance at my laughable bastard sword's dreams of defeating his warhorse's barding in time. He rides astride his noble steed, smashing through infantry, killing three in 5 seconds. Then he runs into my hero Skang and his long spear. Newton's 4th law is apparantly Momentum = Karma.

I was already sold when Stark gave that awesome little spiel, but right now, I'm going to force this game into the throats of those who can play it on their superior computers, as mine is old and slow.

Wait wait, this has a sweet lord of the rings mod? Why didn't anyone tell me?

The latest version is a little buggy it seems. Like when you try to fight it crashes, lol. Awesome.

ZOMG it'd be awesome if someone mentioned the environment shadows bug earlier wouldn't it loller

Mount & Blade is one of those games I would immediately buy if I had a proper Visa instead of Visa Electron. I played its first public beta when it came out over a year ago and fell in love with it. There simply isn't another 3D fantasy game with such freedom and realism in combat that matches M&B. Oblivion doesn't even come close. Don't be put off by its graphics - it's made by a Turkish couple, so the production values aren't obviously very high. What it lacks in visual looks is nothing compared to the playability.

Tell me another 3D game where you can hire a large group of mounted soldiers, ride with them downhill and attack your enemy? Does Splinter Say let you defend a castle with your comrades from attackers? Thought so.

I don't see any reason why people shouldn't try it. Download costs nothing. It's your loss.

I love this thread. Been waiting for the update for a while now and since Stark was nice enough to post the fix to the bugs, I am happy.

Oh, and soloing 40-50 foot soldiers with nothing but some heavy armor, a charger and a lance is ludicriously fun.

The graphics seem a hell of a lot better than the build I played, oh, last winter. I was itching to buy it, but I think I had already grabbed up a couple games from the bargain bin.

Frankly I don't think I have any excuse to not get M&B, it's only 14 USD right?

I bought it a few versions ago when it was US$10, it's up to US$18 now.

Oberleutnant, don't Visa Electron cards work as debit cards? It should work for online purchases.

Game is cool, though the graphics do feel a little dated. Sorta... Morrowind. What is a good way to get gold? Bandits seem to travel in groups, and the arena does not pay well at all.

0.800 is broken, you'll never get any money from battles :S. Turns out moving all the content into the module files caused some problems. EDIT - tour the arenas for money, it's what I do. Khudan has an arena with two teams of 3-8, and I found a place with 3-way 6-man fights, which are awesome.

I've noticed some things still have the old low-res textures, which is a shame. My dude looks awesome, apart form his 256x256 boots.

I started playing this after Oblivion came out, and Oblivion might look way, way better but the combat was shit and there was no horses. This is pretty much the only Dynasty-Warriors style skirmish-warfare game on PC that supports all forms of combat...

Okay... so how do I get money?

Activate cheats and press Ctrl+X at the merchant screen. : P

Capture people after combat and sell them to slavers, become a merchant. There's a post on the M&B forums that has a map drawn out which lets you start rolling in lewt if you follow it.

Oh man, the new version looks gorgeous!